Actress Mirna Jovanović from Bijeljina, who is also involved in icon painting, fine arts, and book illustration, was the guest of the first episode of “Where (Un)Culture Is Trending” on Standard Classic Radio. Among all the obstacles, efforts, setbacks, and new beginnings, this versatile guest particularly emphasized the “thread” that opened doors for her when times were hardest and everything seemed hopeless. That “thread” was God.

“When I graduated, I was not afraid to take on different jobs in order to support myself and stop relying on my parents. I graduated in acting from the Academy of Arts, but Bijeljina did not have a professional theatre at that time. Among other things, I worked in a café in 2019, and one night while returning home from work, I was furious. I started throwing things around and talking to myself, but in reality, I was speaking to God. I said: ‘What more do You want from me?! I’m trying, I’m working jobs that have nothing to do with my profession, and nothing is happening! Out of spite, I won’t act or paint anymore. I’ll spend the rest of my life working in a tavern!’ However, God had planned a different path,” says Mirna.After learning that her mother, who lives in Doboj, had become ill, Mirna left her café job in Bijeljina and returned to the family home. While caring for her mother, she suddenly found more time to paint.

“While staying in Doboj, I decided to turn into reality an idea that had been on my mind for months: portraying secular motifs on canvas through a Byzantine artistic style. By chance, it was a friend’s birthday, and I gave her one of those paintings as a gift. Afterwards, her friend saw the painting and asked whether I would be interested in showing my work to Bishop Jovan Ćulibrk of the Diocese of Pakrac-Slavonia. I took the last money I had, boarded a train to Banja Luka, where a deacon met us, and together that woman and I traveled to Pakrac and Jasenovac. We spoke with the bishop, and he genuinely liked my work. He told me: ‘You have my blessing. Just keep working; this will become something very good,’” recalls Mirna Jovanović, guest of Standard Classic Radio.God decided to open one door for her in 2019, and then others followed—second, third, and fourth.

“Soon afterward, I returned to Bijeljina and began working with the amateur theatre ‘Maslačak’ on children’s productions, while preparations were simultaneously underway for the first production of the newly established City Theatre ‘Semberija.’ One of my Byzantine-style paintings was posted on Instagram by a friend, and when I woke up one morning, I could not believe my eyes when I saw hundreds of messages and requests on the platform. Among others, Miloš Stevanović, owner of StandardPrva, contacted me wanting to purchase several paintings, and his patronage continues to this day,” Mirna emphasizes.According to her, the support of Bishop Jovan Ćulibrk and the well-known lawyer Miloš Stevanović gave her the encouragement she needed to continue painting in the Byzantine style and, after resolving her financial concerns, devote herself fully to art.

“All of this resulted in two significant and very well-attended exhibitions in 2021, despite the coronavirus pandemic. In September, I traveled to Zaječar for the Festival of Christian Culture with the exhibition ‘The West in Eastern Attire,’ where I met artists who compose and perform songs inspired by Dostoevsky’s novels. Again, it was God’s will, because I had already planned to organize the exhibition ‘Faces of Dostoevsky’ in Bijeljina that November to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. I told the musicians they would come to Bijeljina, participate in the exhibition program, and everything turned out wonderfully,” adds actress Mirna Jovanović“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” These are the Lord’s words that Mirna came to understand through the events life placed before her.

To learn more about the artistic journey of this actress, painter, illustrator, and iconographer, listen to the program “Where (Un)Culture Is Trending” on your Standard Classic Radio:

https://standardclassic.ba/gdje-se-fura-nekultura

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