Tamara Bolesic

Asquith Girls High School

LIJEPA NASA

Painting

Watercolour on watercolour paper

Influenced by my heritage, my body of work uses watercolour to represent the weathered beauty of Croatian towns, the stories they tell and the society they help define. I particularly love these townscapes with their ordinariness enriched through colour, stonework and ornate details. My grandparents came from a humble Croatian background and my intention was to convey to the audience the common structures that shaped, and were shaped by, the lives of ordinary people. Homes and communal spaces remind us that history lies not only in grand monuments but also in everyday buildings that communicate the resilience of ordinary people.

My artmaking practice was influenced by the following books: World heritage sites in Croatia, M Domijan (ed); Cudesna Jugoslavija, M Filipovic, G Jokic (eds); Lijepa Nasa Hrvatska, D Zdunic.