ojoMAGico, whose real name is Jadranka Lacković, graduated from the Academy of Applied arts (applied painting) in Rijeka, a city located on the Northern Adriatic coast which is also the largest port in Croatia. Jadranka is co-founder and leader of ArtMašina, a creative studio for informal learning of art techniques and the promotion of visual culture in everyday life.
Over the last two years, she has been using fishes more dominantly in her work. Fishes know no boundaries, swim freely and therefore are a symbol of freedom. Indeed, for the mural in Brussels, Jadranka decided to paint herring fishes. Why herrings? Because herrings belong to the group of blue fishes and are related to sardines which are called the “Queen of the Adriatic” by Croatians because it has fed people on the coast for centuries. “Fish is an indispensable part of our culture but that is exactly what unites us. Because whoever lives by the sea lives for the sea.”
On a side note, ojoMAGico is from Rijeka (Croatia) and her name Jadranka means Adriatic like the Adriatic sea (called Jadransko More in Croatian) 😉