Who’s/Which Body?
What is the body? Is it what we see in the mirror, on social media, in the media, in the eyes of others? Or is the body much more – a space of feeling, identity, vulnerability, strength, resistance, and freedom? The exhibition Who’s/Which Body presents possible answers to these questions as expressed by high-school students from Novi Sad. The exhibition is a result of a months-long artistic and research-based process in which young people performed as authors, researchers and initiators of topics that directly concern them.
The project Who’s/Which Body, that took place at the Gallery of Matica srpska from October to December 2025, brought together high school students from Novi Sad. The starting idea was simple yet powerful: to create a space where young people can talk about the body – without pressure, without expected patterns, without imposed answers. The goal of the project was to let young people critically questions beauty standards and social norms; to understand how media, popular culture and historical patterns shape the image of the body; to connect personal experiences with broader social and cultural contexts; to develop their own viewpoints, language and visual expression; to feel seen and heard as a part of a cultural institution;
The process was participatory and interdisciplinary – young people were not an audience; they were active participants. Theoretical conversations, analyses, and discussions intertwined with practical artistic work in photography, video, drawing, performance, poetry, painting and installation.
The exhibited works address beauty and ugliness, identity and diversity, pressures and expectations, movement, sport, fashion and media, insecurity, strength, and the need for acceptance.
Project participants are students of the “Bogdan Šuput” High School for Design – Jovana Railić, Anastasija Marija Božović, Aleksandra Bojanić, Dragana Đorđević, Olgica Lovrić, Luka Aleksić, Valerija Ilievska, Nikolina Plavišić; and students of the “Svetozar Marković” Grammar School – Una Lečić, Lea Vujkov and Sofija Safijanova.
The exhibiton will be on view on the second floor of the permanent exhibition ReVISION of the GMS Collection, in the Room for Indulging in Art, until March 31, 2026.
