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Gabrijela Bulatović: The Light That Accompanies Me

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October 3, 2026

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Gabrijela Bulatović won the Relief Print Award in Jackson’s Art Prize this year with her work Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night to Dolovo Road. In this interview, she discusses the mindset of sharing new possibilities, the importance of the small town Dolovo, and imbuing her work with the atmosphere, the light, and the memory of a place.

Above image: Gabrijela in the studio

Josephine: Could you share the story of how you became an artist and tell us more about your artistic background?

Gabrijela: It seems to me that art has always been there. Even as a child, I was fascinated by the illustrations in children’s books. The illustrators commissioned by publishing houses in Yugoslavia at the time had a very distinctive visual language. That period is often described as the golden age of children’s illustration. The images did not literally follow the text they illustrated; they could take children into a world of pure imagination. My father was also an art educator, and our home was filled with colourful books about art, which were always within my reach.

I encountered printmaking somewhat later. And what first attracted me to explore it more deeply were the almost poetic names of the printmaking techniques themselves: drypoint, soft-ground etching, aquatint… I was intrigued by the way an image could be materialised through these processes. The details I noticed in prints were completely different from those I could see in traditional drawings and paintings.

After completing my primary education, I enrolled in an art high school, followed by the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, where I later completed my master’s studies. Throughout my education, we were given a wide range of creative assignments, and I found great joy in exploring different ways of approaching and solving them from the very beginning. I felt like a child who had walked into a toy shop; there were so many possibilities in front of us. We studied lettering, illustration, drawing, and printmaking.

Once I graduated, I began working in art education at the Faculty of Applied Arts. I truly enjoy teaching. There is a particular joy in introducing someone to a world full of new possibilities and inspiration. At the same time, however, I remained an active artist and continued exploring different printmaking processes. I think my artistic development has essentially taken place through a constant testing of the boundaries of printmaking. It was never enough for me simply to master a technique; I was always interested in what else I could do with it.

Josephine: What does a typical working day in the studio look like for you? Do you have any important routines or rituals?

Gabrijela: I don’t really have a typical working day. My days are always different because my life involves teaching at the university, the various responsibilities that come with being a professor, as well as the dynamic everyday life of being a mother of three. When I work on my prints, the most important thing for me is to create enough time in which I can be completely focused. I cannot say that my process begins with the decision, ‘Now I am going to make a printing plate.’ The creation of a work is much more connected to the world around me. Every day, a quiet process is taking place: notes in a notebook, written observations, drawings, watercolour studies, little pieces of paper with ideas scribbled on them…

Only once the idea and vision have fully taken shape do I begin making the printing plate. It is very important to me that, before beginning the physical work itself, I have the piece almost completely constructed in my mind, from the drawing to the way I will eventually print the colour. Sometimes it takes a long time for the image to ‘come together’ in my thoughts before I begin to realise it. With printmaking, patience is essential. A printing plate cannot be made all at once. Every line, every surface and every mark of the knife has its precise place. That is why the process itself is just as important to me as the final print.

Josephine: Which materials or tools could you not live without?

Gabrijela: It is always important for me to have a soft pencil and a sketchbook with me. They may be the simplest of tools, but it is difficult for me to imagine the beginning of any creative process without them.

As for everything else, I always have almost anything I might ever need, from masking tape to some very unusual tools. I have a great many tools, and one of my little passions is collecting them. I have two workshops, one in my house in the countryside and the other in my flat in the city. For me, besides the press, an essential part of the interior is the shelving where all this material is stored.

Josephine: Do you work from a reference? Tell us more about your process.

Gabrijela: Yes, I often begin with a reference, but I do not use it to create a literal representation. The reference is only a starting point and is deeply connected to the thinking that takes place throughout the entire process.

I usually begin by observing and absorbing impressions, which I then translate into drawings, develop further, and gradually try to visualise as a whole. Images from life are not simply what is visible to the eye for me. There is also the atmosphere, the light, the memory of a place and the particular feeling it evokes in me. That is why, in the final print, only certain essential elements often remain.

Josephine: Do you regularly draw or keep a sketchbook? If so, how does this inform your work?

Gabrijela: Drawing is the foundation of my work. For me, it is a way of thinking, a preparation for the final piece. Through drawing, I explore line, the relationship between light and darkness, rhythm, and composition. Sometimes a drawing is very concrete, while at other times it is simply a brief note about something I happened to see along the way.

I am very drawn to the form of the book. I always have sketchbooks in progress for different stages of the process: one for writing down and sketching raw ideas, and another for developing the composition and exploring colour. My notes are not always traditional sketches. They can be drawings, watercolours, words, short observations, or simply a scrap of paper with something written on it. Many of the things I later use in linocut originate precisely from this process of observing and drawing. In a way, printmaking is a natural continuation of all these internal processes that I go through.

Josephine: Have you ever had a period of stagnation in creativity? If so, what helped you overcome it?

Gabrijela: Of course. I think it is an inherent and unavoidable part of artistic practice. In the past, I used to experience such periods very dramatically. Today, with more experience and maturity, I see them as a legitimate part of the creative process.

When I feel unable to create, I do not try to force myself to work. I return to drawing and observation, and sometimes I completely change my technique or begin exploring a new process. Simply observing can be incredibly helpful. Often, it is only when we stop making a desperate effort to create an image that we begin to notice the things around us again. When I give myself some distance in time and return to a process I have started, I often realise that there was something good in it after all. I do not think creativity ever truly disappears; sometimes it simply takes a break to catch its breath.

Josephine: Are there any specific artists or mentors who have inspired you?

Gabrijela: I have been inspired by many artists, especially those whose work allows me to sense their personality as a whole. And I enjoy reading about and exploring other people’s experiences and ways of thinking about the world around us. Also, I am not necessarily inspired only by visual artists.

I am drawn to the possibility of creating a very complex and profound atmosphere through very simple means. My teaching practice is also an inexhaustible source of inspiration. My students often remind me to look at things I already know from a completely different and fresh perspective.

Josephine: What were you thinking about or exploring at the time you made Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night to Dolovo Road? What inspired it, and how did it come to be?

Gabrijela: This work grew out of my deep connection to a place I am very attached to – Dolovo is my second home. I grew up there, and it holds many wonderful memories for me. My further education meant moving to the city, and although Dolovo is geographically not far away, it has a particular sense of serenity that I have never been able to find in the city. That is why I try to spend every holiday and free weekend there, in the house where I grew up.

I especially appreciate having longer breaks, as they allow me to work continuously. When it comes to weekends, I usually plan in detail in advance what I will do during those two days in the countryside. But because of the many responsibilities involved in taking care of the house and the children, I often do not manage to accomplish everything I had imagined. On the way back, as I return to the city, I try to find a sense of calm by observing the sun over the endless plain. I wanted to capture precisely that moment, the light that accompanies me as I travel to the countryside or return from it. I travel along that road at all times of day. Sometimes it is morning, sometimes noon, sometimes night. And throughout all four seasons: in autumn, spring, winter, and summer.

I was interested in something completely ordinary: a road we constantly travel along, one that is perfectly familiar to us, yet is never the same. It constantly changes depending on the time of day, the light, the weather, but also our own state of mind. That is why I used ‘Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Night’ in the title. In a way, it is my intimate greeting to that road, but also a visual record of the passage of time.

Josephine: What made you submit this piece to Jackson’s Art Prize?

Gabrijela : I felt that this work truly reflects what I am currently engaged with in my artistic practice. I also feel that it expresses my inner state in a particularly honest and direct way. Landscape, memory, line, and the physical nature of linocut are intertwined in the work.

I found it incredibly interesting to present such a deeply personal subject, originating from a small place like Dolovo, to an international audience. It turned out that precisely these kinds of intimate stories can resonate with people who have never been to these places. I think this is where art finds its greatest magic: something that is deeply personal and local can simultaneously become universal.

Josephine: There is a wonderful relationship between the macro narrative of the sun and land against the micro delicacy of dots from the lino printing. Could you explain why lino printing was the best choice for you?

Gabrijela: Linocut allows me to achieve precisely what I needed for this print: to bring together large, powerful surfaces and very small, delicate marks within the same image. I am particularly drawn to the possibility of constructing a large form from a multitude of minute marks. Dots and tiny lines begin as separate entities, but when viewed as a whole, they generate light, atmosphere, and space. Linocut has also allowed me to use colour in a different way. Colours can overlap, remain partially transparent, and interact with one another.

There is also a wonderful paradox here: the material itself is solid and requires a rough, physical process of carving, while the final result on paper can be incredibly delicate. This tension between the physical process of making and the delicacy of the final print lies at the core of my interest.

Josephine: Is Dolovo Road an important location to you as it is mentioned in the title? What other locations do you create prints of?

Gabrijela: I am not strictly tied to depicting landscapes. Figurative work was present in my practice for a long time, and I still enjoy returning to depictions of the human figure.

And as for Dolovo, yes, it is fundamentally important to me. As I mentioned, it is a place inseparably connected to my personal experience, memory, and the passage of time. In my current work, I focus on the landscapes of Vojvodina: its villages, roads, houses, fields, trees, and those endless, open horizons. I am particularly drawn to places that, at first glance, seem completely ordinary and unremarkable.

It is precisely within this everyday ordinariness that I find a monumental strength. A house, a road, or a tree that we see every day can, when observed for long enough and with sufficient focus, take on completely new visual qualities and transform into something almost abstract. I feel close to the Vojvodina landscape precisely because of its openness and breadth. There is so much space for observation, but even more space for inner reflection.

Josephine: Are there any new techniques or ideas you’re excited to explore using the materials from your prize?

Gabrijela: Yes, absolutely. I am very excited to experiment with Cranfield inks. At the moment, colour and its almost limitless expressive possibilities are what occupy me most. I have never had the opportunity to use Cranfield inks in my work. I am fascinated by the history of pigments, but I am even more interested in exploring them directly and empirically. Recently, I started making my own inks, which has opened up a completely new and exciting field of creative exploration for me.

I would like to investigate in greater detail how different types of inks, their densities and their relationships with one another can alter the character of a linocut, how they overlap, and how a sense of depth, space and atmosphere can be materialised through their layers. And I am also interested in combining different printmaking processes.

Josephine: How did it feel to move through the stages of the competition and win the Relief Print Award?

Gabrijela: I was genuinely surprised, but also immensely happy. Even having the work shortlisted, among such a large number of artists from all over the world, felt like an enormous recognition. As the competition progressed and I moved through each stage, my curiosity grew as well.

Winning the Relief Print Award is particularly meaningful to me because the recognition came specifically for a printmaking technique, relief printing, to which I have devoted years of work. It is extremely important to me that the jury recognised the sincerity with which I approached the subject. The fact that such a deeply personal work, rooted in a very specific local landscape, managed to find its way to an international audience gave me a clear confirmation that we should never be afraid to explore our own intimate subjects.

Josephine: What’s coming up next for you?

Gabrijela: In the coming period, I want to devote myself fully to exploring colour. When it comes to the subjects themselves, I still do not know exactly where the process will take me. But at the moment, I am most intrigued by the relationship between a real place and our memory of it. I am interested in how a motif changes in our consciousness when we no longer perceive it only through our eyes, but filter it through accumulated experience and time. I will continue experimenting with linocut and combining it with other printmaking processes, because I believe there is still an enormous amount of unexplored territory within printmaking.

And, of course, I will continue teaching. For me, artistic practice and teaching exist in a constant, living synergy. Working with students continually raises new questions for me, and those questions naturally find their way into my own work in the studio. Perhaps it is precisely because of this exchange that, even today, I have the same feeling that overcame me when I first entered the world of printmaking: the feeling that an endless space for exploration and play lies ahead of us.

Follow Gabrijela on Instagram
Visit Gabrijela’s website

Further Reading

Meet Angela Lizon, Winner of Jackson’s Art Prize 2026

Jackson’s Art Prize 2026 First Prize Winner Announced

How We Collaborate With Artists

Expert Advice on Making Your Way as an Artist

Shop Printmaking on jacksonsart.com

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