Skopje, 5 September 2023 (MIA) — 'Displaced,' a solo exhibition of 27 paintings by Macedonian artist Tanja Balac will open at the Museum of North Macedonia.

Art historian and art critic Kiril Penushliski will open the art show, which consists of paintings created between 2020 and 2022.

The inspiration behind the works is the refugee crisis, according to the artist. Her paintings on the topic have already been on display in galleries in Skopje, Belgrade, and Zagreb.

"Human figures appear in 'Displaced' for the first time in Balac's oeuvre," Penushliski notes about the exhibition. "These are people who cannot be identified. They 'travel' through her paintings, some of them just silent observers of tragic human fate."

The works refer to the xenophobic rhetoric in the mainstream media and they call for a solutiion to this global problem, the artist said.

'Displaced' will also be shown in Strasbourg, where it will be opened by Ambassador Svetlana Geleva at the Amicale Art Club of the Council of Europe.

Tanja Balac (b. 1968, Skopje) is a formally trained painter. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje in 1991 and earned her master's degree in 2008.

She has been a DLUM Association of Artists of Macedonia member since 1996, and its president from 2006 to 2013. Her interests include installations, video art projects, and art performances. mr/