Unknown Heroine – Sanja Ivekovic at Calvert 22

Personal Cuts, Sanja Ivekovic

Unknown Heroine is Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovic’s first UK retrospective. Her work is a mix of installation, film and performance stretching over four decades, tackling the major issues of consumerism, history and the struggle for female identity.

The exhibition offers an in-depth and fascinating insight into the politics that arise from any gender or power structure.

Ivekovic, born in 1949 in Zagreb, studied at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts from 1968 to 1971, and became known for her feminist conceptual work.

The show at Calvert22 highlights concerns over Croatia’s evolution from socialism to the current political system.

Among the work is a feature of a magazine showing 15 models wearing sunglasses, but beneath each headshot is a story of a woman who has suffered from domestic abuse.

It is an excellent exposé, contrasting how women are portrayed in magazines and the harsh realities of advertising.

There is also a larger exhibition of the artist’s work at London South Gallery, but the Calvert22 show has a greater emphasis on the repression that Ivekovic herself experienced whilst growing up.

Intense and serious, Ivekovic’s work succeeds in provoking an emotional response in the viewer as well as an insight into the history of socialism in Croatia and the roles of women in modern society

The gallery, founded in 2009 by Nonna Materkova, a St Petersburg-born economist, aims to provide a dynamic programme of exhibitions, disciplinary events and talks from well established and emerging contemporary artists.

It also provides resources for people who wish to study and carry out research into Russian and Eastern European contemporary art and culture.

Unknown Heroine
Until 24 February 2013
Calvert 22
22 Calvert Avenue
E2 7JP