The continuity between internal and external realities that so powerfully ruptures during the process of forced displacement creates fragmentary experiences and a crisis in identity. This liminal state is what the work often depicts, inviting the viewer to drift between its paradoxical zones of seduction and danger, comfort and confinement, movement and immobility. Taking both personal and historical events as a point of departure, Čvorović repurposes domestic everyday items imbued with notions of childhood, memory and the unconscious. Shifting from intimate areas of tight pictorial detail to immersive spatial interventions, her practice conveys the conflicting experience of our vulnerable human condition.
Bio
Ana Čvorović (b. Sarajevo 1981) came to the UK with her family in 1989, fleeing the impending civil war in Former Yugoslavia. A student at University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, Čvorović’s installations are an exploration of the psychodynamics of place, specifically in the context of war, migration, socio-economic impoverishment and processes of globalisation.
Čvorović’s solo exhibitions include Archipelago at Ballon Rouge, Brussels (2021) and Borders Unfold at Pi Artworks, London (2019). Recent residencies include Arthouse Jersey for a commissioned project ‘No Place Like Home’ (2023); FAP, Lebanon (2022) supported by the Foundation for Art and Psychoanalysis; and Sculpture Space, NY, US (2018) supported by Arts Council England.
Čvorović has been a recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Shelagh Cluett Award (2021), Arts Council England Grant (2019), a-n Artist Award (2018, 2020), and the Leathersellers Scholarship (2012). She is currently an Artist Researcher within the FREEPSY - Free Clinics and a Psychoanalysis for the People – project at the University of Essex.
Education
2011 – 2013 Royal College of Art, MA Fine Art Sculpture
2000 – 2003 University of Brighton, BA Fine Art Painting
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Archipelago, Ballon Rouge, Brussels, Belgium
2020 Borders Unfold, Pi Artworks, London, UK
Group Exhibitions
2024
Here, But Somewhere Else, National Gallery of Macedonia, Skopje, Macedonia
2023
Here, But Somewhere Else, Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
No Place Like Home, Arthouse Jersey, Jersey
2022
E70-E75, The Koppel Project, London, UK
Pretty Ugly, Shame, Brussels, Belgium
2018
Ch.ACO Art Fair, Focus section curated by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Santiago, Chile
Rules of Freedom, curated by Rosalind Davis, Collyer Bristow, London, UK
Borders Unfold, Sculpture Space, NY, USA
Strike Site, curated by Sacha Craddock, BACKLIT Gallery, Nottingham, UK
2017
Strike Site, curated by Sacha Craddock, Pi Artworks, London, UK
2016
Refuse: Refuge: Re-fuse, The Koppel Project, London, UK
Part of Us, Central St Martins, London, UK
Unexpected, curated by Counterpoints Arts & Sarah MacDougall, Ben Uri Gallery, London, UK
Res/Dual, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2015
Freedom Audit, curated by Kathleen Soriano, Maddox Arts at Art15 Art Fair, London, UK
Members' Show, selected by Tim Etchells and Vlatka Horvat, T.A.P, Southend, UK
2014
In Search of the Miraculous, Floating Island Gallery, London, UK
Art14 Art Fair, Maddox Arts, London, UK
Technopolis, The Departure Foundation, London, UK
Must-Have, Ligne Roset, London, UK
2013
The Tomorrow People, Elevator Gallery, London, UK
A Séance for Geometry, Maddox Arts, London, UK
MA Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Grants and Awards
2023 Arthouse Jersey Commission
2022 a-n Artist Bursary
2021 Shelagh Cluett Award
2018 Arts Council England Project Grant
2018 a-n Artist Bursary
2017 Shortlisted for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award
2012 The Leathersellers Scholarship
Residencies
2023 JSKD, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2022-2023 ArtHouse Jersey, Jersey
2022 The Foundation for Art and Psychoanalysis, Lebanon
2018 Sculpture Space, Utica, New York, USA
Collections
The Saatchi Gallery
Private collections in UK, Belgium, Canada, Australia, US
Talks and Conferences
2024 Caring Futures: Contradictions, Transformation and Revolutionary Possibilities, American University in Paris, France
2024 Free Clinics and the (Re)inventions of Psychoanalysis, co-panellist, Association for Psychosocial Studies (APS) and Association for Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society (APCS), St Mary’s University of Twickenham, UK
2023 Money and Psychoanalysis: Economies of Care, co-panellist, FREEPSY and Freud Museum Conference, Freud Museum, London, UK
2022 BiH Today: Far Away, in conversation with Aleksandra Bilić, Morocco Bound Bookshop, London, UK
2020 Diasporic Art, Memory and Identity, Kuma International, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Available here
2019 Ana Cvorovic in Conversation with Sacha Craddock, Borders Unfold, Pi Artworks, London, UK. Available here
2019 Poetry Reading by Laila Sumpton in collaboration with Counterpoints Arts, Pi Artworks, London, UK. Available here
2018 Who Are We, artist talk as part of Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London, UK
2018 Rules of Freedom, artist and curator-led talk with Rosalind Davis, Collyer Bristow, London, UK
2018 Strike Site, artist talk led by Sacha Craddock, Backlit Gallery, Nottingham, UK.
Available here
2017 Strike Site, artist talk led by Sacha Craddock, Pi Artworks, London, UK.
Available here
2016 Panel discussion with Cointerpoints Arts, Ben Uri Museum, London, UK
2016 In Conversation: Baroness Helena Kennedy, The Koppel Project, London, UK. Available here
Press and Reviews
Talhoș, T. ‘Remembering: Dealing with Trauma Remembrance Culture in Post-war Bosnia Herzegovina’, Most Magazine, August 2024
Erizanu, P. ‘This Bosnian-British artist is fighting to keep the experiences of child refugees alive’, The Calvert Journal, March 2020
White, K. ‘5 Emerging Artists With Shows You Won’t Want To Miss This October’, Artnet, October 2019
Strange, L. ‘Female Solo Exhibitions to See Now’, Go With Yamo, October 2019
May, T. ‘Lost World: Ana Cvorovic’s Sculptures Explore the Reality of Migration and
Displacement’, Creative Boom, October 2019
Craddock, S. ‘Review: Borders Unfold’, September 2019
Mills, N. ‘Strike Site at Backlit’, Leftlion, March 2018
Genç, K. ‘Visiting a “Strike Site” at London’s Leading Turkish Gallery’, Daily Sabah, January 2017
Videos
Kuma International – Artists in Conversation: Ana Cvorovic
Laila Sumpton performance at Ana Cvorovic's solo show Borders Unfold
Sacha Craddock on Strike Site at Backlit Gallery
Ana Cvorovic and Sacha Craddock on Strike Site
In Conversation: Baroness Helena Kennedy with artists Ana Cvorovic, Ivica Bonic-Babic, Svetlana Dmitrenko, Yvonne Feng, Sam Gregg, Yu-Xin Su