SILA SI (You Are Power)

“SILA SI” is a visual meditation on feminine power as presence—intuitive, quiet, and undeniable. Shot on analog film, the series traces a nonlinear path where nothing is accidental, and strength is felt, not shown.

“SILA SI” is not a portrait of a woman — it is a portrait of her depths. Shot on analog film using double exposure, the series invites us to see the feminine not as a fixed identity, but as a living, breathing spectrum. She is body and thought. Wildness and control. A reader. A thinker. A mother. A wave. She is the daughter and the land. She is where the story begins.

The first photographs were taken at dawn in Montenegrin beach Galija — two women, completely different, leaning into each other in silent recognition. I wanted to show how contrast reveals sameness. Later, while in Belgrade, unaware that the film roll was already used, I shot again: a girl in a library, part of my ongoing Portrait project, where I photograph women as they are now — to return a year later and photograph them again. It’s about making change visible. About making growth feel seen.

Among these frames, I also captured a glowing sign on a wall in Silosi Belgrade — a raw, post-industrial space turned cultural hub. The sign read: SILA SI — You are power.

The image of my mother holds more than a face — it holds a shift. In 2024, we began to connect differently, realizing we are both here to break cycles, to end what needed ending. Photographed in the middle of Serbia, on a quiet stop between Belgrade and Montenegro, this moment is part of that quiet rebellion — a portrait of legacy, redefined.

When the film was developed, the story had already told itself. No plan. Just presence. The work appeared as if it had always been there — layered in trust, emotion, and something beyond my control.

Nothing is staged — and yet everything aligns. Because when a woman moves with trust, even chaos knows where to land. This is not about performance. This is about essence. A quiet insistence that within every woman lives a thousand lives — and all of them are real.