Impractical Women - Embroidered wall protectors ("cooks") of the present time

The Museum of Naive and Marginal Art (MNMU) marked International Women's Day on March 8 with the ceremonial opening of the study exhibition: Impractical Women – Embroidered wall protectors ("cooks") of the present time. This unusual exhibition of non-traditional, contemporary "cooks" attracted significant public attention at the Gallery of the Museum of Naive and Marginal Art in Jagodina. A total of 94 works executed in embroidery on fabric were displayed. The exhibition is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia and was realized in collaboration with the collectives Impractical Women and Škart, who lent the works for the exhibition. Speakers at the exhibition included Ms. Gordana Predić, special advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Maja Gojković, Ivana Bašičević Antić, PhD, director of MNMU, and artist Lenka Zelenović. The exhibition was authored by Ivana Jovanović, museum advisor at MNMU. Interested visitors can view the exhibition until May 26, 2023, at the Gallery of the Museum of Naive and Marginal Art in Jagodina (Boška Đuričića 10).

In the field of unconventional artistic practice, characterized by a high degree of freedom, spontaneity, and immediacy in the creative expression process, embroidery
holds a special place. It is most often encountered as one of the elements that, in conjunction with other techniques and materials, constructs complex visual wholes, while the bodies of work created by artists through interventions of needle and thread on fabric emerge as distinctly unique. Embroidery, as an independent medium that, although overshadowed by the rooted position of being limited "beyond the category
of artistic invention," carries the potential for universal, distinctly receptive, tactile, sensual, and intuitive creative energy, appears as a field of interesting artistic transformations.
Particular attention is drawn to the phenomenon of the collective Impractical Women and their distinctly unique drawings embroidered on fabric, which we recognize as an unexpected transformation of the format of traditional wall decorations known as
"cooks" into a liberated contemporary artistic form of a kind of embroidered graphics. 
Soon, the group Impractical Women was established, with members such as Lenka Zelenović, Brigite Međo, and Pava Martinović, who, through the deconstruction of the traditionally entrenched form of expression that rarely allowed for individuality
and experimentation, conquered spaces of personal freedom. Although the starting
point consisted of the basic elements of the format of popular "cooks," rectangular pieces of fabric embroidered with visual and textual messages associated with skills and practices identified as desirable female spheres of practical domestic action, the
"new cooks" essentially demonstrate a completely different approach. The power of a
strong creative impulse, imagination, and inventiveness, along with the purity of motivation and immediacy in expressing deeply felt personal truths, resulted in works of high intensity in both message and visual expression.
Десетинама метара конца ове „непрактичне жене“ на платну су исцртавале упечатљиве обрисе својих животних прича, као и рефлексије високог емотивног
"cook" their thoughts and experiences of the contemporary moment, inspired by the phenomena of global problems and personal existential life struggles for a better and more beautiful world that surrounds them. By raising questions of identity in the contemporary moment, these unconventional artists open up space for a new way of thinking and questioning. In the fight against the uniformity and impersonality of the expected, they approach the presented questions and problems directly, with a dose of bitterness but also humor.
The intensity of the presented ideas and messages is emphasized by the strength of the purified visual expression and the simplicity of the medium. Concise compositions of stylized depictions are shaped by lines that are extremely simple and metaphorical, most often executed in a straight stitch with blue and red thread, while particularly important details are often highlighted with variegated thread.
The dynamics of the whole is achieved through the activated forms and diagonal placement of the embroidered messages, which visually and meaningfully
complement the entirety.
In the works of "impractical women" such as Lenka Zelenović, Brigita Međo and Pava Martinović, the new embroidered wall protectors, unlike the last century's framework through which stereotypical roles were imposed on women, have become a symbol of the struggle for freedom of choice and uninhibited personal expression. In one step they cross the distance from tradition to the present time, from collective skill to individual authorial expression, from the imposed boundaries of what is to be learned and expected to the opening of space for intuitive reflection, expression and activism, from a forgotten craft to an increasingly dominant artistic practice.
The space of the "new cooks" is physically and symbolically framed most often with lace or a special type of stitch, the loop. The loop, a knot made of thread, carries
layered symbolism and meaning of connection, networking, improvisation, courage, determination, and responsibility that comes with choice. On Lenka Zelenović's cooks, these seams are most often done by Lenka's sister, Mica Savić, a star of the Škart documentary film "Duga Resa," which speaks of a conscious deviation from the dictates of uniform impersonality. This mutual assistance and inclusion of other collaborators (Vladan Nikolić in Brigita's cooks, Women from Glina in Lenka's, and others) in the work on the "new cooks" encourages and fosters networking, strengthening the collectivism of authentic individuals.