Lili Zaneta

Exhibition text

Lili Zaneta is a visual artist who predominantly uses photography, video, and text, frequently integrating these mediums into installations. Her inspiration stems from daily life, encompassing her environment, events, and objects. She is interested in daily human experiences, emotions, and psychological states, both personal and collective. Hailing from Split, she moved to Trondheim, Norway, in 2018, marking the beginning of the project showcased in this exhibition. This work involves a long-term and continuous process of photographically documenting and concurrently recording thoughts in textual form. The materials were collected until 2020 and subsequently condensed into an artist’s book published in 2024. Notably, the concept of consolidating the material into an artist’s book only arose after the 2018 exhibition, where the photographs and texts were first presented. At that point, the book emerged as an artistic form that facilitated experimentation, creative play, and exploration. Now, six years on, the artist’s book is reinterpreted through an exhibition held in the small space of the Museum of Fine Arts. Whereas the artist’s book, as a medium, fosters an intimate interaction with the visitor, the exhibition transforms this private moment experienced by the reader or observer into a public one, introducing elements of voyeurism. Consequently, the perception of the work remains subjective but also becomes a shared experience.

The book, and thus the exhibition, serves as a photographic and textual diary where the artist captures her reflections in simple sentences, thoughts that occupy the space “in-between” those spoken and deeply considered. These are small, simple thoughts, remarks, and observations that are spontaneous, sincere, and intuitive, and often go unnoticed. Her approach to photography mirrors this - as she captures textures, light, and the diverse angles and lines formed by objects in the photographs. Light in the photographs is significant, as it symbolises something she greatly missed in Norway, particularly as a photographer, and found challenging to adapt to its absence. She documents familiar settings - offering new viewpoints, as well as less familiar ones. She juxtaposes different places and moments, compiling them into photographic and textual notes, and strives to capture the small, seemingly insignificant moments of our collective human experience. Rejecting sensationalism, she turns her attention to subtle differences; everyday shifts that significantly affect our psychological well-being, contemplating the contrasts within our daily lives. Central to this project is her own pursuit of balance between the familiar life she led in Split and the newly allocated life abroad. In doing so, she questions the justification of our fear of mistakes, vulnerability and the unknown, while also praising the value of slowness - both in the act of creation and in observation.

Journaling is often perceived as a therapeutic process. In this project, Lili Zaneta, primarily a photographer, steps out of her comfort zone by choosing to engage with text for the first time. Embracing imperfections and even errors, she learns to let go of constraints and discovers a newfound sense of ease in this medium. By highlighting the significance of small, incidental thoughts and details from her surroundings, she encourages others to do likewise -pause, observe, and embrace their own thoughts and the world around them. Besides confronting one’s own thoughts and embracing them, this work also embodies the creative process and acceptance of all potential mistakes that arise, it is a form of meditation on personal growth and acceptance. In Lili’s work, the insignificant becomes significant - forming the essence of the exhibition. These are the seemingly insignificant, ordinary moments that allow us to perceive life in its entirety.

Jasmina Šarić