Like a family album with its linen-embossed cover and single inset snapshot, the book Mira, Study for a Portrait is not only telling the story of a woman’s journey through life but the parallel story of a nation that would fall into a brutal civil war. Jelena Jureša’s tracing of Mira’s life and the story of the Perera family, a family of Sephardi Jews, during their life in prewar Bijeljina, Bosnia, examines the possibility of multilayer photographic and micro narratives and construction of postmemory of a Balkan family. The intimate journey is recreated by Jureša using found photographs while photographing and filming the places depicted in the narrative. Jelena Jureša demonstrates strong interest and alliance with art historical, social and theoretical issues resulting in a strong body of work focusing on the essence of the lens based medium.

Jelena Jureša ,*1974 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Lives and works in Novi Sad, Serbia and Gent, Belgium.