“Moram te škibicirati” (I have to škibicirati you) - my grandfather told me when I would go from his apartment to mine a couple of steps down our hallway. “Škibiciranje” was our name for the act of him watching if I will make it down the stairs and get home safely. Apart from that memory, this word has a symbolic meaning to me. Because of my strong connection to my grandfather, I always have the feeling that he is watching and protecting me in a way.
Through portraits of my grandfather, items that characterize him and situations that evoke memories from the past I show my closeness to him. By reconstructing my childhood, in which my grandfather had an important role, I emphasize the moments that ignited my desire to pursue photography. Watching diapositive slides or “dijači” as we called them, listening to my grandfather’s stories from his youth, going to the city with him and my grandmother, taking photos with his analog Yashica camera… - those are all fragments that make up the mosaic of my creative journey. I use photography as a medium to reflect on my development as an artist and the birth of my passion for photography through the relationship with my grandfather.
In my grandfather’s archive I found three photos of him when he was younger. The photos have carvings in them that denote the settings of a camera. They were taken in the 1960s in Zagreb when Tošo Dabac asked my grandfather and his friend to test out his cameras. My grandfather selflessly imparted his love for photography and the city onto me, so this work is sort of a reminder to me and to the world that photography is my chosen medium through which I want to express myself and that my love for it comes from the love of my grandfather.