The artists nominated by

Igor Schiller is Serbia-born, Amsterdam-based visual artist who graduated with degree in photography from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2021. His work has been showcased at Unfair Amsterdam, EYE Film Museum, Photo Vogue Festival in Milan and the IFFR. In 2022, he was nominated for the FOAM Paul Huf Award and in 2024 he received the Mangelos Award as Serbia’s best young visual artist. Schiller explores themes of cultural identity, memory and how early years shape our worldview. He transforms childhood into symbols of individual experience and shared history by reimagining family archive. Through set designs, he blends fiction and subjectivity, creating uncanny dreamscapes saturated with tenderness and warmth. Imaginary playgrounds and whimsical characters become metaphors for his understanding of toys, games and lullabies as historical artifacts and mirrors of culture. He explores socio-political traces engraved in the remnants of childhood and how tradition and upbringing perpetuate these rigid systems.

Laureta Hajrullahu (b. 1997, Preshevë) is a Prishtina-based multimedia artist exploring privacy, gender, intimacy, digital ecosystems, video games, and (im)possible futures. Her work critically examines the boundaries between virtual and physical worlds, offering diverse perspectives on ‘reality.’ Hajrullahu’s art has been presented at numerous national and international exhibitions in the past, including Manifesta 14 Biennial, Gjon Mili at the National Gallery of Kosovo, Bazament Art Space in Tirana, FORUM STADTPARK in Graz, Tallinn Art Hall, Art Quarter Budapest, Toplocentrala in Sofia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Montenegro. She is currently artist in residence at The Academy of Arts in Szczecin and she will have a solo exhibition at Vänersborgs Konsthall.

Marija Mandić (b. 1990, Novi Sad, Serbia) is an artist whose practice spans photography, text, drawing, and found footage. Her work delves into the themes of identity, memory and the past, often within a familial context, blending personal narratives with broader social issues. In 2023, Mandić was a finalist for the Mangelos Award, part of the Young Visual Artists Awards network. She won the Fotograf Magazine (CZ) open call in 2022 and received the VID Foundation for Photography grant in 2021 for her project White Bee. Her accolades also include the Dositeja scholarship, a grant from the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, and the Mali Princ Foundation award. Mandić holds a PhD in Visual Communication from the Faculty of Art and Design in Ústí nad Labem, where she lectured from 2015 to 2019.

Sara Perovic’s photography begins with the personal, drawing from her own experiences and memories, and expands into broader themes of repetition, abstraction, and identity. Her work explores how personal moments shape perception and emotional expression. In Palmeral (2017), Perovic uses texture, repetition, and the fragility of nature to reveal the unseen complexities of plants. My Father’s Legs (2020) blends personal reflection with artistic exploration, confronting memory and healing through repetitive gestures, navigating emotional expression and abstraction. TWO (2024) explores human relationships, visualizing emotional connections with metaphorical imagery and a poetic “hugs ballad.” In Home Mirror I, Perovic catalogs her belongings to explore identity as both a collection of material and memory. Her book My Father’s Legs was shortlisted for the Les Rencontres d’Arles Prix du Livre d’Auteur and the Aperture/Paris Photo First Book Award. Perovic also founded aTree, a fanzine promoting young photographers, available at MoMA Library in New York. She works as a photographer and architect in Berlin.

Sara Rman (1992, Ljubljana) is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of photography and craftsmanship. Her work explores identity, freedom, and raw aesthetics, with a strong focus on socio-cultural marginality, self-reflection, and social critique. Fascinated by boundaries, she seeks to reach, transcend, and blend them through a holistic and process-driven approach. She avoids a formalistic view of photography, instead questioning its indexical nature and alternative functions beyond image-making. Her works are often interactive and installation-oriented, shaped by themes of meaning, absurdity, paradox, memory, and hallucination. By integrating multiple media, she challenges conventions and embraces experimentation, making the process itself central to her artistic expression.