Photo: Christian Rückert
SHORT BIO
Ivona Pelajić is a Croatian visual artist, art pedagogue and designer, living and working in Berlin, Germany.
In 2010 Pelajić graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Zagreb (mag. art) and in 2020 she gained her second degree, MFA in Child Culture Design at HDK-Valand, GU, Sweden. Apart from painting, she teaches art and conducts art workshops, both for children and adults, applying participatory and process-based learning that nurtures creativity across ages.
In 2020 she co-founded studio Mono/Mint with Fredrik Stjernqvist. Since 2022 member of HDLU (Croatian Association of Fine Artists).
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, installations, and participatory art, with my practice moving between the material and the ephemeral, personal and public. My work engages with memory, perception and imagination, drawing on symbols and geometries found in nature to reveal hidden correspondences between inner and outer worlds. Motifs such as underground root systems and plant auras serve as metaphors for unseen energies, emotional imprints, and the interconnectedness of systems.
Through both painting and participatory practice, I explore how ephemeral experiences can leave traces in the material world: as memories, symbols, the auras of plants and architectural spaces, or as invisible structures that shape perception and connect us to one another. Together, my two practices form a continuous investigation into the boundaries between the self and the world, memory and present moment, the visible and the invisible.
Since 2020, I have collaborated with Fredrik Stjernqvist under the name Mono/mint, creating installations from natural materials (mainly wood) that invite play and tactile discovery. These projects are designed not only for children but with children as active collaborators, transforming symbolic imagery into lived, shared experiences that animate public spaces.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2022 Freestanding Course: Storytelling in Environmental Practices, HDK-Valand, GU
2020 Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Child Culture Design, University of Gothenburg, HDK-Valand, Sweden
2020 Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Child Culture Design, University of Gothenburg, HDK-Valand, Sweden
2014 Cultural Policy, Course, Arts Faculty, KU Leuven, Belgium
2011 Graphic Design, Course, Algebra University, Zagreb, Croatia
2010 Master of Arts (MA) Fine Arts Pedagogy (Interdisciplinary course consisting of painting, sculpture and graphic with the comprehensive art history and pedagogical training), Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb
2002 Scenography and Decoration Design, School for Applied Arts and Design, Zagreb, Croatia
EXHIBITIONS, RESIDENCIES
2025 Award winner and exhibition: “54 h Art Squat”, Hotel Kontinental - Art in Exile, Berlin
2025 Group Show: “Summer Exhibition”, Löwenpalais-Stiftung Starke, Berlin, Germany
2025 Group show: “Liljevalchs Vårsalongen”, Stockholm, Sweden
2024-2025 “Unsupervised”, group show of Fresh A.i.R. residents, Berliner Leben Stiftung, Berlin
2024-2025 "Winter Ausstellung" group show, Stiftung Starke, Löwenpalais, Berlin
2024 "Metempsychosis" group show by Sylia, Berlin
2024 “Bülow Street Festival” and Open Studios, Urban Nation/Fresh A.i.R., Berlin
2024 Artist’s Residency: Fresh A.i.R., Berliner Leben Stiftung, Berlin
2023 Members’ Annual Exhibition, HDLU, Croatian Artists’ Association, Zagreb, HR
2023 Solo exhibition: “Leerolina”, Studio Mono/mint, CEKATE, Gallery Modulor, Zagreb, HR
2022 Artist’s Residency: “Fägatukonst”, AiR, Konstkollektivet and Västra Götalandsregionen, SE
2021 Solo show: "Leerolina" (with Studio Mono/mint), Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE
2020 Solo show: Galleri Rotor2, Hdk-Valand, Göteborg, SE
2019 Group show, shortlisted: Zagreb Design Week (Exhibition), Technical Museum Zagreb, HR
2014 JAM Weekend (group exhibition), HDLU, Zagreb, HR
2010 Group exhibition, AKC Medika, Zagreb, HR
2007 Group exhibition: "Visible and invisible – fragments of the city", Gallery “Pravi put”, Zagreb, HR
WORKSHOPS
2025 Portrait Painting Course, Folkuniversitetet Göteborg, Sweden
2023 Acrilyc Painting Course, Folkuniversitetet Göteborg, Sweden
2023 “Un/Water”, collage workshop, Conference for youth, Berlin, Germany
2023 “Storytelling and Art Design”, art workshop, International Scientific and Artistic Conference: Rethinking Childhood II - Child and Space, Zadar, Croatia
2023 “Leerolina in Zagreb” - part of the exhibition (Studio Mono/mint): exploring the neighbourhood Tresnjevka, CEKATE, Gallery Modulor, Zagreb, Croatia
2021 "Leerolina" - exploring the urban environment, co-designing for the neighbourhood, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, Germany
2019 “Water”, Food Art Week: Painting workshop, Berlin, Germany
2016 “Christmas Boats”, Greek traditional crafts workshop, Misirlou, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Winter Fairy Tale”, art workshop for toddlers and children, part of Pop-Up Reima, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Veggie Portraits”, painting portraits workshop, Food Art Week, Berlin, Germany
2012 “Mural: Bats – endangered animals”, International Children’s Festival, Sibenik, Croatia
2011 “Mural: Underwater World”, mural painting workshop for children, International Children’s Festival, Sibenik, Croatia
EXHIBITIONS, RESIDENCIES
2025 Award winner and exhibition: “54 h Art Squat”, Hotel Kontinental - Art in Exile, Berlin
2025 Group Show: “Summer Exhibition”, Löwenpalais-Stiftung Starke, Berlin, Germany
2025 Group show: “Liljevalchs Vårsalongen”, Stockholm, Sweden
2024-2025 “Unsupervised”, group show of Fresh A.i.R. residents, Berliner Leben Stiftung, Berlin
2024-2025 "Winter Ausstellung" group show, Stiftung Starke, Löwenpalais, Berlin
2024 "Metempsychosis" group show by Sylia, Berlin
2024 “Bülow Street Festival” and Open Studios, Urban Nation/Fresh A.i.R., Berlin
2024 Artist’s Residency: Fresh A.i.R., Berliner Leben Stiftung, Berlin
2023 Members’ Annual Exhibition, HDLU, Croatian Artists’ Association, Zagreb, HR
2023 Solo exhibition: “Leerolina”, Studio Mono/mint, CEKATE, Gallery Modulor, Zagreb, HR
2022 Artist’s Residency: “Fägatukonst”, AiR, Konstkollektivet and Västra Götalandsregionen, SE
2021 Solo show: "Leerolina" (with Studio Mono/mint), Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE
2020 Solo show: Galleri Rotor2, Hdk-Valand, Göteborg, SE
2019 Group show, shortlisted: Zagreb Design Week (Exhibition), Technical Museum Zagreb, HR
2014 JAM Weekend (group exhibition), HDLU, Zagreb, HR
2010 Group exhibition, AKC Medika, Zagreb, HR
2007 Group exhibition: "Visible and invisible – fragments of the city", Gallery “Pravi put”, Zagreb, HR
WORKSHOPS
2025 Portrait Painting Course, Folkuniversitetet Göteborg, Sweden
2023 Acrilyc Painting Course, Folkuniversitetet Göteborg, Sweden
2023 “Un/Water”, collage workshop, Conference for youth, Berlin, Germany
2023 “Storytelling and Art Design”, art workshop, International Scientific and Artistic Conference: Rethinking Childhood II - Child and Space, Zadar, Croatia
2023 “Leerolina in Zagreb” - part of the exhibition (Studio Mono/mint): exploring the neighbourhood Tresnjevka, CEKATE, Gallery Modulor, Zagreb, Croatia
2021 "Leerolina" - exploring the urban environment, co-designing for the neighbourhood, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, Germany
2019 “Water”, Food Art Week: Painting workshop, Berlin, Germany
2016 “Christmas Boats”, Greek traditional crafts workshop, Misirlou, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Winter Fairy Tale”, art workshop for toddlers and children, part of Pop-Up Reima, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Veggie Portraits”, painting portraits workshop, Food Art Week, Berlin, Germany
2012 “Mural: Bats – endangered animals”, International Children’s Festival, Sibenik, Croatia
2011 “Mural: Underwater World”, mural painting workshop for children, International Children’s Festival, Sibenik, Croatia