Photography | 2022

Perforated Territory
Matea Despot

Description: Presented through a series of photographs, the project explores the emotional and psychological imprint of war through the lens of personal memory and collective trauma. While initiated in response to current global events at the border between Eastern and Western worlds, the work is deeply rooted in the artist's own memories of the war (and its consequences) in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.

At its core is a black concrete cube, punctured by a cylindrical void created through the burning of a wax candle - a contemplative gesture evoking ritual and loss. This act becomes a metaphor for the fragility of life, the erosion of dignity, and the enduring testimony of violence. The cube’s fractured surface, later digitally multiplied into the landscape, materializes the internal ruptures caused by conflict, addressing territory as a site of trauma accumulation and a barrier to psychological and emotional healing.

A key element is the semiotics of place, shaping collective memory by referencing geopolitically fragmented regions scarred by war, such as distorted landscapes of social intolerance, as seen in the muted ex-warzones of the former Yugoslavia. The spread of violent ideologies, initiated by political power, creates the impression that the subjects of such wars remain crippled, “perforated,” absurd and meaningless.

Therefore, what is the purpose of territory if growth and dignified life upon it can no longer be sustained?
Perforated Territory invites reflection on how individual pain intersects with public crisis, and how spaces marked by trauma may still hold potential for resistance and remembrance.


About the artist: Matea Despot (born in 1984) earned a master's degree in architecture from the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, followed by several years of work on projects for both public and private spaces. Through architectural conceptualization, she began exploring her artistic affinities and in 2019 enrolled in undergraduate studies in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

As part of an international student exchange program, she spent the 2022 summer semester at the Facultad de Bellas Artes Universidad Complutense in Madrid, where she encountered diverse international artistic practices. In her work, she often focuses on researching the experience of space through various spatial interventions and digital media, aiming to establish a dialogic relationship between theoretical foundations and established social practices, often drawing from her personal impressions of reality.

​She currently resides in Zagreb, where she works across several creative fields. She has participated in various artistic workshops, competitions for group projects and exhibitions, striving to promote collective action as an open dialogue in the field of art, envisioning utopian compounds where architecture, nature, art and people converge.