What does freedom mean to us as human beings? Can we associate it with the sensation of flying – with the possibility of leaving the ground behind, feeling free, and setting off towards the unknown?

Freedom is one of the starting points of my artistic work. The idea of flight is connected with aeroplanes, various aircraft, paper planes, and childhood play. For me, flight is not merely physical movement through space, but also a symbol of freedom, imagination, desires, and dreams.

In my work, I bring together different sources and images: technical drawings, photographs of aircraft components, comic-book imagery, electrical diagrams, and models of paper planes. In this way, I combine science, technology, art, and play. I transform what normally belongs to the world of scientific research and technology into a kind of plaything, while giving everyday objects new meanings.

The aircraft in my prints become characters in their own right. I try to “humanise” them, giving them human qualities, emotions, relationships, and stories. Technological forms are no longer merely machines; they can speak of love, desires, relationships, power, fear, or responsibility. Their meaning is often revealed not only through the image itself, but also through the title of the work, words, and hidden messages.

I play with familiar symbols of science and technology, transforming them into something new. I am interested in the moment when the precise and seemingly cold world of technology encounters human emotions and imagination.

Graphic printmaking techniques have a special significance in my work. I combine etching, aquatint, mezzotint, soft and deep etching, and transfer techniques. By combining different processes, I create numerous layers, lines, tones, and textures. As a result, the surfaces of the prints become rich and complex, further emphasising their atmosphere and meaning.

The entire exhibition can be viewed as one great game – a game of forms, techniques, meanings, and associations. Behind the motifs of aircraft lie questions about human beings, their desires, and their responsibility.

Because flight is not only a question of technology.

Flight is also a metaphor for freedom, imagination, and the human desire to push beyond boundaries.

Ivana Devernay Cimić, prof. likovne kulture/Master of Arts in Art Education (M.A.)
 

Ivana Devernay Cimić graduated in 2001 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of Art Education, specialising in Graphic Arts. Since 2002, she has worked at Matija Gubec Primary School in Zagreb, where she teaches Visual Arts and Design within the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme.

In 2025, she obtained a micro-credential in Graphic Design, specialising in Digital Publishing, from Algebra Bernays University in Zagreb. The same year, she was promoted to the professional title of Excellent Advisor.

Throughout her professional career, she has contributed to the development of the Visual Arts curriculum, including work on the national Visual Arts curriculum of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports and participation in the 2016 national curricular reform. As part of the School for Life reform project of the Ministry of Science and Education, she contributed to the production of educational video lessons for e-learning and online teaching from 2019 to 2021.

She is a co-author of the In Medias ReStart 1, 2 and 3 teacher’s manuals and their English-language edition, Media Lab. From 2006 to 2013, she was also a co-author and editor of Visual Arts textbooks, teacher’s manuals and accompanying art portfolios for students from the 1st to the 8th grade of primary school, published by Znanje, V.B.Z. and Edit Rijeka.

She is the author and mentor of numerous school, national and international projects and has served as a lecturer at professional development seminars, conferences and other educational events. She has presented her artistic work in solo and group exhibitions.

She is a member of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU), the Croatian Association of School Cooperatives (HSUZ), and OPA – the Association for the Promotion of Attention and Visual Culture. Through the European School Education Platform, she regularly collaborates with educators from across Europe, sharing professional experience and good practices while continuously developing her professional and artistic knowledge and competencies.