Kanonatra

If the western literate man is truly interested in the wellbeing of the highest creative aspects of civilization, he will not seek shelter in an ivory tower grieving over change, he will, instead,  jump into the fray with electric technology and determine the new surroundings through understanding – transforming the ivory tower into a control tower.

                                                                                                                                              M. McLuhan

For a long time visual art has not been perceived just as a field of human creative action which operates exclusively through emotions and aesthetic categories. Art, as well as science, conducts extensive visual research and analysis, asks questions and delivers varying results, offers truth, personal “artistic truth”. Today visual art represents a sum of assumptions, concepts, and research methods and constructs visual phenomenon. A new visual phenomenon that we have before us is Canonatra from Ana Vujović. The term itself is a derivative made by the author. It is comprised of two words: the first is canon, which refers to a group of strict, well-determined rules and thresholds set by tradition, with which the artist deals with through her research. The second word, which sounds archaic, natra, refers to a weaving frame. It is also a distinct element of pre-Slavic tradition which had various defining terms  in various parts of Serbia. Natra1 was exclusively used in western Serbia.     

 With special dedication, Ana Vujović begins her research in the field of tradition, dealing with one of the most important aspects of applied arts within the domain of cultural heritage – the rug. The aesthetics of the handmade rug is connected to the tradition of the Balkan people displayed through motifs, form and shapes of national ornaments. Today, apart from a higher level of consciousness regarding the importance of cultural heritage, we can also come across misinterpretations, even vulgar glorification of national tradition in an unnecessary and conservative comparison with contemporary visual art. Disregarding all risks brought in by the sensitivity of the subject matter, Ana Vujović begins her visual research in a field marked and defined by three things: firstly – by rigid canons of traditions which dictate rules and precision in the production of rug ornaments; secondly – by precious personal emotional memories of her grandmother as a keeper of natra canons in her own family, and thirdly – by the burden of xenophobic self-identification of cultural heritage with patriotic feelings of national belonging. Into such a sensitive field, defined by science, family history, and popular quasi-patriotism, Ana Vujović boldly introduces a glitch, playing with canons of tradition and its "analog" language, opposing and confronting it with the language of digital media, spoiling and deforming the expected traditional image.

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