The works of three students of the Faculty of Applied Arts from Serbia, Milica Kačar, Sofija Stefanović and Sara Negran, are costumes for which the authors found inspiration in Aristophanes' drama Birds. With a variety of materials, cuts, textures, patterns and techniques, they have come up with pieces of art that open up environmental themes, question the notion of freedom and point the finger at modern man who wants to fly high above the pollution, anxiety and suffocation of places where he lives.
The work of Milica Kačar represents a man who suffocates in the clutter of city life and in 21st century in general. It is the man who wants to be free and colorful like a bird flying across the sky high above our polluted planet. The work was created as part of a faculty project at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, Serbia.
Milica Kačar was born in Belgrade in 1999. In 2015, she won the “Alan Ford” award at the International Comics Festival in Belgrade with her comic book entitled “Vincent”. In 2018, her work was presented as part of a group exhibition, which she opened as the youngest member of the Association of Serbian Comic Artists USUS. His first solo exhibition entitled “Whose Is Our South Actually?” held in September 2019 at the Indigo Art Club in Zrenjanin, Serbia, and the second, entitled “It’s not our South” in September 2020 at the SFRY Tavern in Belgrade. Her work is also presented as part of the permanent EDU exhibition in Zagreb, Croatia. She is currently a 3rd year student at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, majoring in Stage Costume.
Sofija Stefanović’s work is the author’s answer and her view of the character Foothbird from Aristophanes’ drama “Birds”. The starting point for making costumes and finding inspiration was to explore the period of ancient Greece, during which the author came up with the idea of wanting to portray a bird in the abstract. The costume emphasizes simplicity, including interesting patterns designed directly on the sewing doll, and clear and meticulously made textures that make the costume more interesting. In order for the costume in the show to best portray a large scary bird and play its part, the author of the iron is to look elegant and elongated. She achieved this with handmade wooden shoes that have a high platform. Simplicity, monochromaticity, choice of materials and contrasting copper laces on the shoes, enriched with textures and patterns, give the impression of elegance, sublimity and mystery, which the author believes the character in the play should have.
Sofija Stefanović was born in 1999 in Kotor, Montenegro. She has lived in Belgrade, Serbia since 2000. After graduating from the Tehnoart High School of Art in Belgrade, she enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Arts, where she is currently a third-year student. Since 2015, she has exhibited her works several times in solo and group exhibitions (Madlenianum Theater, Belgrade, Theater Museum, Belgrade, Belgrade City Library, Branko Miljković Library, Belgrade, RTS Gallery, Belgrade, ULUPUH Gallery, Zagreb. As a costume designer, she has collaborated with Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade for four short films and with the National Theater in Belgrade for some television projects.
The work of Sarah Negran is a costume adapted for a character called “Nightingle” from Aristophanes ’drama Birds. With different types of cuts, materials and models, the author came to the final product of her work, which has the shape of origami. The author chose an inspiring and interesting solution, but at the same time very demanding. With origami-like pleats, she made new elements, which she then used to make the costume. The ultimate goal of the project was to make hundreds of folds and join different pieces of fabric that fit together to resemble feathers as much as possible as a geometric shape.
Sara Negran was born in 1999 in Belgrade, Serbia. After graduating from the School of Design, she enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Stage Costume, where she is currently a 3rd year student under the mentorship of Professor Ljiljana Petrović. Her works were shown at the EDU international exhibition at the ULUPUH Gallery in Zagreb.
