LAVANDIN FAIRIES EXHIBITION
JULY – SEPTEMBER 2022
ŠETALIŠTE 20. TRAVNJA, CRES
Lavandin Fairies project was developed as a result of a collaboration between Vesna Jakić, Ruta association and Loredana Velčić family farm.
LAVANDIN FAIRIES
As soon as rosy hue hugs the morning sky, butterflies start their colourful flight in the lavender fields of St. Vitus.
Four Lavandin fairies spread out an antique embroidered table linen, watch the sunrise and sip flavourful nips of meadow tea. Fairies, relaxed in their white dresses and hats and overjoyed by the beauty of the encounter and resurfaced emotions, couldn’t foresee how their friendship will continue to inspire artists in the upcoming summers.
The next summer, the purple pasture photo play was complemented by an artistic woollen creation - “The Lavandin Fairy” – a felted skirt with a cape and hood in lavender shades.
The third summer, the four friends are joined by a painter who soon after went on her last flight with the butterflies. In her honour, the fairies put on a performance with her painted dresses in the meadow.
The intoxicating scent of lavandin continued to entice, but this time it was foreign artists – a photographer, a jazz musician and a ballet dancer. The sound of traditional diple of Cres awoke ballerina’s untrammelled dance in the besotting essences. Only then the waves of lavender splashed another photographer, a nature lover.
When they sat that morning in the field, the Lavandin fairies did not know they will not only inspire themselves, but also other artists while the lavender observed and smiled in its comfort, as a true queen of essential scents.
The project Lavandin Fairies came to life in collaboration between Vesna Jakić, a textile and clothes designer from the Ruta association, and Loredana Velčić, a kindergarten teacher with a family lavender farm. One is a world traveller, imaginative and a force of nature, the other mild and shy islander. While Vesna was doing projects with discarded Cres wool, Loredana planted lavender in an abandoned field. While Vesna was bringing to life woollen creations, Loredana was processing lavandin into various essential concoctions.
On that spontaneous June morning, a woollen flower met lavender. That is how the indigenous art souvenir “A fragrant pendant of friendship” came to be which has the Croatian Island Product quality label.
Photographers:
Francesco Moretti
Sanja Grgić Ćurić
Costume designers:
Vesna Jakić
Vesna Bakić
Ballet dancer:
Vanessa Bertoletti
Models:
Vedrana Gašpić
Ana Kapeš
Musician:
Mat Muntz
Text:
Sana Vitas
Translation:
Emir Asani