Mirsad Begić was born in 1953 in Glamoč, Bosnia. In 1979 he graduated with a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, where he then pursued a specialisation in sculpture under Drago Tršar. During his studies he also received further education in Zagreb and at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. Begić often uses materials that are rarely used in art, such as wax and rope, to complement popular traditional sculpture materials, such as bronze, plaster, clay and ceramics. He also does drawings, but it is his contribution to public sculptural monuments, particularly portraits, that is of paramount importance. He has received multiple awards for his work and remains active in his home country and abroad through both individual and group exhibitions. He lives and works in Ljubljana.
The sculpture by Begić, who lives in Ljubljana, transcends all customary approaches in creating a freestanding stone block. The author designed it in such a way that is seems to have haphazardly emerged on the slope of one of the park’s terraces. Doing so, he visually subdued a large part of the surrounding green space. The stone mark with no allusive emphasis about its original nature fuses almost organically with the earth. It takes us back to the cultural landscape of Begić’s youth, to Bosnia, where abandoned tombstones testify to an ancient artistic tradition. They weave a tale about rituals that deal with the passage of time and help preserve the memory of human existence. In Begić’s art, the past keeps returning to the present as a narrative.
