We are all in this alone

In the exhibition We are all in this alone, the two renowned contemporary
Macedonian artists Hristina Ivanoska and Yane Calovski are dealing with the idea
of faith and their view on the modern society and the way of living nowadays,
which cause a lack of belief in anything that could matter. The main questions
that they are asking themselves and the audiences are: What do we believe in
the 21st Century? Do we find the time to think about ourselves, our lives and
the things that surround us? Through their individual artistic works that coexist
in this project, Ivanoska and Calovski are not giving answers to the visitors, but
a motivation to think about their beliefs. The joint work in the exhibition is a
sort of translation of the iconographic works from the Macedonian Church St.
Gjorgi in Kurbinovo, made by an unknown zograph in the begging of the 12th
Century. The work of the two artists should be observed as one piece of mural that
is following the traces of what today has been perceived from the painted icons,
and is intended to be an allusion of a secret place where one can be alone with his/
her thoughts. By alluding to a church and creating a similar atmosphere the artists
refer to the collective component of faith and religion, namely the uniting of the
people in religious communities and the church as a pure place where we can more
strongly feel the spirit of God. But as the title of the project We are all in this alone
refers, the topic of the exhibition is not about collective religion but more about
personal faith. Taking that into account, the artists are inviting visitors to spend
time reflecting faith and thinking about their personal beliefs that not necessarily
have to be of a religious kind. Ivanoska’s works are text-based on the ideas of
two female philosophers Simone Weil and Luce Irigaray, about their notions of
faith, whether in God or in the human kind, while Calovski’s engagement with
Paul Thek’s thoughts about the artist and his work should be perceived as an
inspiration for the visitors to think about their own belief in themselves and in the
things that they are doing.
It seems like nowadays, while being in a daily run for the material things, we are
less and less in touch with our spritual side, almost intentionally avoiding to think
or rethink our own values. The big question that rises from this way of living is do
we believe in anything nowadays and do we find the time to critically think about
things? Is maybe the lack of time only an excuse? The exhibition might bring
someone to questions such as: Is religion offering a way to find again the faith? Can
art play that role as a sort of liturgy? The project We are all in this alone offers the
visitor a needed surrounding as well as impulses to take some time and ask himself/
herself those questions and find potential answers.

(from the text "The notion of faith nowadays" by Ksenija Cockova