Vesna Jovanovic is an artist from Chicago whose work focuses on how we collectively experience the world through our bodies and how culture forms these experiences. She has worked in various disciplines over the course of her career, including ceramics and photography, and is currently concentrating on painting and drawing.
Born in Chicago, IL (1976) to working-class immigrant parents, Jovanovic spent most of her early childhood with disabilities from Polyarticular JIA. Her family moved to a coastal spa town in communist Yugoslavia to mitigate the illness, only to flee back to the United States during the Yugoslav wars. She enrolled in a Chicago public high school and became fluent in English while adapting to the new culture. The first in her family to attend college, Jovanovic initially pursued a BA in Fine Arts (Ceramics) and later a concurrent BS in Chemistry, both at Loyola University Chicago. After graduation she worked in a laboratory while attending The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received a BFA in Studio Art. She also holds an MFA in Visual Arts with a concentration in Photography from The Ohio State University.
Jovanovic has participated in numerous residency programs, including the Studios at MASS MoCA, Ucross Foundation, VCCA in Virginia and France, and a two-year studio residency at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago. She has exhibited at venues such as the Hyde Park Art Center, CoCA Seattle, Reno City Hall, Delaware Contemporary, University of Dallas, Columbus Museum of Art, and the International Museum of Surgical Science, with reviews and features in Newcity, New American Paintings, Bad at Sports, Art:21 Magazine, and Slate. Her work is held in permanent collections at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, International Museum of Surgical Science, and the Koehnline Museum of Art.