May 10, 2018 - The photo exhibition "The Mediterranean as it was" by art photographers within the international association “Adriatic Artists” will open today at 19:00 in the Maritime Heritage Collection at Porto Montenegro in Tivat.
The story of joining Adriatic artists began spontaneously. It was initiated by painter Boris Dragojevic, a hyperrealist, and one of the most successful marine painters from the former Yugoslavia. The fact that he is the only contemporary artist whose work has been received in the rich art collection of Our Lady of the Rocks, which is his inexhaustible inspiration, explains best his importance to the complete regional visual scene inspired by the theme of the sea.
"I wanted to get in touch with artists that find the Adriatic is an inspiration, and the Mediterranean is a vocation. We are a relatively small number of artists who have been interested in such a project, which relies primarily on communication and promotion through social networks. Initially, several painters, such as my friend Hrvoje Marko Peruzovic from Brač and others, spoke. But, in time, Adriatic Artists became an association of photographers. Today, the Adriatic Artists group brings together 750 members, including many renowned professional photographers such as Mario Bralić and Saša Ivanović, as well as a large number of award-winning amateurs such as Ana Vlahov, Mirjana Bočina, and others. On the occasion of the fifth collective exhibition in Tivat, next to Saša Ivanović, is also Svjetlana Panić, our Bokelian Branka Čelanović Ilijanić and Dijana Bošnjak, whose photo was selected for the poster of the "Mediterranean as it was" exhibition, to be opened in the Maritime Heritage Collection at Porto Montenegro today at 19:00,” explains Boris Dragojević.
The exhibition is the fifth collective exhibition of the Adriatic Artists Group. The first exhibition was also in Tivat. "Tivat has always been the starting point for my activities. It is always more important for me to think of a visual audience in Tivat and whether they will recognize my marine expression as Bokelian by vocation, rather than react to the audience in Titograd, Belgrade or Zagreb, although I often exhibit there," Boris Dragojevic says. "On this occasion, thanks to Dražen Jovanovic, coordinator of the Maritime Heritage Collection, we managed to prepare an exhibition which will present the works of 42 photographers from Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Australia.”
Dražen Jovanović, as the primary motive for cooperation with the Adriatic Artists Art Group and the organization of this exhibition, highlights the desire to point to the natural beauty that slowly disappears throughout the Mediterranean, and especially intensively along the Adriatic coast.
"I met Boris Dragojević when we organized the exhibition 'Tivat's painters.' We have already recognized and realized that we have a lot of common themes and generally similar affinity with nature and art. I believe this is not the only cooperation we will have. Boris met me with the Adriatic Artists group, directed me to the FB site where I got to know the work of the artists. From here, we came up with the idea to try to introduce beauties and traditional Mediterranean values to the local population, and then, indeed to our guests, to highlight why people from all over the world come to the Adriatic and why they enjoy this area. It is always harder for people who live in this area every day and to understand its aesthetic and civic value than it is for guests to come. This is an attempt to draw attention to all the beauty that surrounds us. There are still some of the natural beauties and landscapes of the Mediterranean that have remained here. This exhibition is, in this regard, and appeal to people to get a little awakened," explains historian Dražen Jovanović.
"The photographs that are shown are not, of course, exclusively related to Boka bay, but to the entire Adriatic, and indeed to the Mediterranean as a whole. Each photo captures the author's vision and first association when the Mediterranean is praised. Someone first thought of the boats, some on the ships, the sailors, the island, and local people. I think the selection has managed to unite and allow us to see once again what surrounds us and try to preserve the beauty God has given us here, in the center of the Mediterranean. We live in a fast time, at a time when other rules are governed by rules that had prevailed earlier, but some traditional values should survive. I am afraid that not only here, but throughout the Mediterranean, we will lose the values that have become the cradle of civilization. This is an appeal to try to preserve what still could be preserved," says the organizer of the exhibition, Dražen Jovanović.
The exhibition in the Maritime Heritage Collection will be open through May 31st.
