Note to an Entirety

Triptych of photographs

Artists: Simona Semenič, Nada Žgank

Number of prints: 1 / 3 + 2AP

Year of production: 2009

Year of printing: 2018

Technique: giclée print

Size: 67 x 100 cm

Simona Semenič (1975) is a dramatist and performer. She graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana with a degree in dramaturgy.

Simona has won the Prešeren Foundation Award and three Slavko Grum Awards for her plays 5fantkov.si (2008), 24ur (2006) and Sedem kuharic, štirje soldati in tri Sofije (2014), while her texts 1981 (2013) and to jabolko, zlato (2016) were also nominated for the award. Her texts have been translated into twelve languages and staged in several European nations, the United States, and the Middle East, and also published in several countries. The productions of her plays have won a number of awards both in Slovenia and internationally. Some of her other dramatic works are Nisi pozabila, samo ne spomniš se več (2007), Gostija (2010), Vsega je kriv Boško Buha (2011), Prilika o vladarju in modrosti ali Medtem ko skoraj rečem še (2011), Mi, evropski mrliči (2015), Jerebika, štrudelj, ples pa še kaj (2017), and Zadnje ljubezensko pismo (2017).

Simona also writes, directs and performs/acts in autobiographical performances, such as 9 lahkih komadov (2007, with the artist group Preglej), Jaz, žrtev (2007), Še me dej (2009), 43 srečnih koncev (2010, with the artist group Preglej), Kapelj in Semenič v sestavljanju (2012, with Barbara Kapelj), Semenič in Bulc naprodaj (2013, with Mare Bulc) and Drugič (2014). She has presented her performances at numerous festivals at home and abroad.

She works with various directors and choreographers as co-author and dramaturgist, such as, among others, Ivan Talijančić and Janez Janša, and she also writes adaptations for several theatres (Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, Ljubljana City Theatre, SiTi Teater).

Simona and her two sons live in Ljubljana.

Nada Žgank (1967), photographer, graduated from the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana with a professional degree in agronomy. She volunteered as a photographer in projects aimed to benefit Romany settlements in Slovenia while still a student. She has been photographing performative arts for almost two decades, as well as contemporary music and jazz, identity cultural practices and social and political activism (Narobe magazine (2007–2014), Kralji ulice newspaper (2012–)).

Žgank’s photographs have been published in most Slovene periodicals and in specialized foreign publications about performing arts. Between 2002 and 2004 she produced over 100 staged portraits for the “striptiz” section of the weekly Mladina. She has been featured in the documentary film Na prvi pogled – iz življenja slovenskih fotoreporterjev directed by Dušan Moravec (2007), and in the TV program about culture Osmi dan (2011) in a segment about dance photography. Her photographs illustrate a number of books, among others: Janez Janša: Life II [in Progress] (2015), Andreja Podrzavnik: Trajanje (2016), Antonella Bukovaz: 3x3 Besede za teater / parole per il teatro (2016). She has won the Ksenija Hribar Award for contemporary dance art photography (2017).

As a photographer and sometimes co-author, Žgank works with artistic organizations (Maska, Emanat, Bunker, Federacija, Slovene Mladinsko Theater, ŠKUC Theater, and Prešeren Theater Kranj) and festivals (City of Women, Mladi levi, Exodos, Gibanica, Ljubljana Jazz Festival, and Jazz Cerkno).

She has had several solo exhibitions (From the Life of Romanies in Slovenia, Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 1998; Tobacco and Smokers, ISH, 2001; Photographic Looking at Women Cities, Foto (sp)ogledovanje ženskih mest, Cankarjev dom, 2002; Portraits of Women Activists, Klub Monokel, 2004; Bodily Transformations, Španski borci, 2011; Nadaland, 17th International Festival of Contemporary Arts – the City of Women, 2011; Ljubljana Jazz Festival 2001–2014, Mala galerija Cankarjevega doma, 2014; Nadaland, Križišče gallery, Cerkno, Festival Deuje babe, 2015), and has participated in group exhibitions (2XSOLO, Jazz Photography, Mala galerija, Cankarjev dom, 2006; Images of Perishing, Photon Gallery, 2007; Invisible Knowledge, Galway Arts Centre; 2013, Through Her Eyes: Flashes of Lesbian-Feminist Production, Alkatraz Gallery, 2013). She collaborated as a photographer in Janez Janša’s exhibition Life II [in Progress] at the International Center for Graphic Art (2014) and the Art Gallery Slovenj Gradec, 2015.