Ana Rajcevic

ANIMAL: The Other Side of Evolution (fiberglass, polyester resin)

Winner of MA Design Award, University of Arts London, 2012 and the Accessories Collection of the Year at ITS (International Talent Support) 2012 in Trieste, Italy

The project is grounded in a unique visual interpretation of animal anatomy, building upon existing skeleton structures to create a series of sculptural pieces
that appear as natural properties of the human body, suggesting strength, power and sensuality. Concepts of mutation and evolution are explored in order to
develop a contemporary cross-image of human and animal, an atemporal, supreme creature, beyond past and future.

The goal was to fabricate a collection of 8 pieces of personal adornment that would not be specifically categorised as jewellery or accessories. The idea was to
step out of the traditional jewellery/accessories context in order to develop a ‘new breed’ of precious objects that can be exhibited both separately on their own and fully attached to the human body.

All of the objects were handcrafted creating multi-part master molds, using gelcoat, fiberglass, resin and silicone rubber.

The pieces perform a double function: they exist as fashion objects attached to the wearer, as well as separate art works, exhibited in gallery spaces.
Because of this dual quality they can be considered fashion artefacts in the true sense: objects of desire, rather than just mere adornments.

photographs by Fernando Lessa
model : Anna Tatton
hair and make up : Sarah Frasca

Ana Rajcevic: UNHUMAN (cow and sheep skin, bronze, aluminium, tin, brass, rubber, pvc): Armor as inspiration, the eroticism of evil in the form of battle garments. Seductive, sculptural forms that meet the classic elegance of tradition and the brutal, combatant futurism of the modern age. Utilitarian objects like shoulder and knee caps become sensual, erotic accessories. Leather coats encrusted with glittering metal become uniforms of a distant, dehumanized world of manufactured bodies. The sculptural quality of these designs puts emphasis on the body itself – a dominating, fighting body, body in armor, body as weapon, a non-mortal body: UNHUMAN.

WIRED (plastic, aluminium and steel wires, 2009)

Series of five sculptures that signal a drift from traditional concepts of "anatomy as destiny", emphasizing today's relationship between
industry and the body that is produced, purchased and modified. Readymade industrial objects [mannequin dolls] were cut, disassembled
and impregnated with metal strings, symbolizing the "wired" bloodstream of today's human.

The focus rests on the anatomy, questioning what lays under the surface of body and appearance. The smooth, curvy architecture of the
"perfect body" is destabilized and transformed with pieces of metal, resulting in a new, hybrid body-architecture, crude and elegant at
the same time.

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photo by Vladimir Miladinovic

VIRGIN (metal, leather, silk, thermoplastic and hair)

Two dresses hanging from the ceiling, encouraging visitors to step underneath. Inside each dress there is a vagina piece
by Boris Hoppek. The first dress, made of red leather and silk, symbolizes the internal structure of vagina. The second one,
made of black leather, metal, thermoplastic and hair, represents the exterior vulva.

Skirt Up dress designed and made by Ana Rajcevic
Artist in Residence: Boris Hoppek
Museum of Yugoslav History, Belgrade
DIS-PATCH Festival of Cutting Edge Music and Related Art (October 8-15, 2010)

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photo by Luka Strika and Darko Stranimirovic

Award-winning fashion artist, based in London, working at the intersections of sculpture and fashion design.
Specialised in synthetic polymers, metal and leather.

After receiving an international MA scholarship from University of Arts, London in 2010 for the prestigious
Fashion Artefact course at London College of Fashion, Ana won the LCF Best Design Award 2012 
and the Accessories Collection of the Year at ITS (International Talent Support) 2012 in Italy
for her collection of bespoke head pieces ANIMAL: The Other Side of Evolution.
Exhibited in London, Paris, New York, Rome, Trieste, Rotterdam, Berlin and Istanbul.

An architecture graduate, her first sculpture exhibition Wired (2009) featured disassembled mannequins impregnated with
metal strings. Her armor inspired fashion collection UNHUMAN (2009), handmade in leather, metal and rubber, envisioned
a world of dark and elegant beauty. She has exhibited her Virgin dress - made of metal, thermoplastics and hair
- at Dis-patch festival 2010 and Belgrade Design Week 2011.
Ana has also stepped in the areas of film, with her own co-produced fashion film Encounters, screened at Rotterdam
International Film Festival (2011) and Berlin Fashion Week (2010).

Her work has been featured in major print publications such as The Independent, British Vogue, Vogue NL, Vogue IT, Dazed and Confused,
i-D Magazine, NYLON Magazine, Interview Magazine, Marie Claire France, Interview Magazine, Another Magazine, Stylus, Tank Magazine,
Zoom on Fashion Trends - the semi-annual fashion research book (cover) among others, as well as as prominent online magazines and blogs
such as Dezeen, WGSN, Not Just a Label and Trendand.
In 2012 Independent listed her as one of the 12 most promising artists from the University of The Arts, London.

Contributing artist at SHOWstudio, London.

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