Hatidza Mulic
The University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd School of Art
Self-portrait with swordfish
Oil on canvas
24" x 30"
Upon arriving in the United States fifteen years ago, I faced all of the typical hardships that immigrants face. Speaking no English, and unfamiliar with the myriad cultural differences between the United States and Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina, I found a place for myself in the world of fine arts. Oil painting, specifically, provided me with both intellectual challenges as well as a sheer sense of enjoyment. Looking at my work, I can see many of the early influences from my life including summers spent in early youth on the Adriatic coast where I developed an interest in local flora and fauna. Imagery of the sea life resonating from my childhood memories, in combination with my personal attraction to representing the human figure in oil painting, created a subject matter in which I developed a special curiosity worthy of exploring.
My body of work, pursued mainly during my time in United States, examined the idea of magic realism where realities of sea life and land life synchronize. Using sea life as a metaphoric explanation of the human drama offered a likely evolution that materialized in my work. Marine organisms that became visible in my painting required closer investigation in order to understand them. These sea life forms migrated from my imagination to the surface of oil paintings, just as I had journeyed from my innate environment into the new one. As time progressed, sea creatures found a more emblematic place within my paintings. Therefore, my newest paintings explore the dynamics among human figures and marine-life as separate entities while also conceptualizing the symbioses between the two.