Katarina Mrvar and Luka Mancini (as part of the Biennial of Independent Slovenian Illustration) Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Fužine Castle, Ljubljana | 05.03.2008 • 23.03.2008
The Desacrarium project was a solo exhibition of unique, socially critical illustrations created especially for the Biennial of Independents. The main piece of the exhibition was an epic, highly detailed, and complex illustration displayed in a richly decorated, massive frame. The key image shows a woman nailed to a cross, serving as a powerful visual metaphor for the abuse and devaluation of the female body in modern consumer society. The artwork directly addresses objectification, where women are too often viewed merely as meat and objects of shallow desire, completely stripped of deeper layers of respect, admiration, and genuine love. To spread this message throughout the space, individual motifs and details from the main illustration were turned into stickers and placed all around the gallery, giving visitors a tactile way to explore and discover the details.
Images of Perfection?
Alenka Sottler, Kiki Omerzel, Lukatarina (as part of the Red Dawns Festival) Alkatraz Gallery, AKC Metelkova mesto, Ljubljana | 08.03.2011 • 25.03.2011
Because of its strong message, the main illustration from the Desacrarium project later found its natural place in a group exhibition titled Images of Perfection?, organized for the international feminist and queer festival Red Dawns. The exhibition brought together works by established and emerging female artists, along with the duo Lukatarina, to question social ideas about the ideal of female beauty, perfection, and gender roles.
Through various media, the artists explored how the media, advertising, and patriarchal patterns dictate, distort, and control the female image. In this context, your illustration once again served as a key visual commentary. With its sacred form and sharp content, it deconstructed modern myths about a "perfect" and submissive female body, opening up a much-needed space to rethink emancipation and true intimacy.
