In the crowded hall of the old Eđšeg castle in Novi Sad, the phantasmagorical exhibition “Magic World of Photography by Pavel Surovi and his vision of Mira Brtkova’s fashion creations” was officially opened. Fashion photographer Pavel Surovi is also the author of photographs and exhibitions, as well as an elaborate exclusive fashion show.
Surovi welcomed the audience with live models in Mira Brtkova‘s dresses and with his entire styling in his imaginary magical world as if from a Hollywood set. Large-format photographs that were identical to live models adorned the walls of the old Eđšeg castle. The exhibition will be open until the end of February 2024 in Novi Sad at the Eđšeg Cultural Station.
Simonida Stanković, daughter of Milić of Mačva, performed a magical Scythian ritual and musical spectacle and opened this mystical exhibition of Pavel Surovi! She is also the author of essays and criticism of the exhibition entitled “The Magical World of Photography by Pavel Surovo and His View of Mira Brtkova’s Fashion Creations”. At the end of the event, she spontaneously sang the old Serbian song “Gusta Mi Magla Padnala”, which was greeted with great applause from the audience!
The exhibition “The Magical World of Photography by Pavel Surovi and his vision of Mira Brtkova’s fashion creations” was premiered to the public for the first time in Novi Sad for the City of Novi Sad Day, and it aroused great interest from the audience. The hall and the corridors of the old castle of Eđšeg were full of audience and there was even no room, so the visitors stood in the courtyard of the Cultural Station of Eđšeg. The fashion show called “Mira Brtka – Pavel Surovi”, which was creatively designed by the fashion photographer Pavel Surovi himself, worthy of the glamorous Parisian fashion shows had to be repeated 3 times so that all the audience and visitors from the yard could taste a part of this spectacular mystical event.
This new promotional exhibition managed to bring together two artists and two worlds – Pavel Surovi and Mira Brtka. Pavel Surovi’s fashion photos are done in a unique style that shows his work, they show Mira Brtka’s chosen dresses from his magical perspective. Pavel, in addition to being a passionate collector of Mira’s dresses, also designs the entire scenography and atmosphere on the photo set, he is also in the role of creative director, light master, and fashion stylist – where through various accessories, he combines the incompatible, thus embodying his visions and imagine through the lens of which he tries to explain Mira’s philosophy of creating her widely known fashion dresses.
“Each of my photographs and the entire scenography and styling, which I invented, tells a deeper story about Mira’s dress. With my vision, imagination, associations, and allegories, I reinterpret and interpret each of Mira’s dresses and add a philosophical, spiritual and mystical context to them. I give the dresses an overall added value and thus the story is completed and gains strength and layering. There are many hidden symbols in my photos, which expose the mystical story even more and add mystery to the entire experience. I chose the models according to the role I invented for them and those in the photos represent Grdana, the Warrior, Pharaoh, Little Red Riding Hood, Black Mamba, Angela, Geisha, Pocahontas, Princess,” said fashion photographer Pavel Surovi.
He continues: “One cold, snowy January, fate brought me together and introduced me to Mira Brtka. We never met face to face. I knew about her and that she was a great artist. When I collected enough of her dresses, I told myself that I had to give this artist and her dresses a creative ode. In that period, I created the works “Corona” and “Tron”. There was constant questioning, artistic nervousness, and pressure, whether, after so many world awards for my photos from the “Corona” and “Tron” series, I could enchant the audience even better and more creatively. My goal was to revive the image and work of world artist Mira Brtka with this phenomenal multidisciplinary event in Eđšeg Castle, an exhibition, a musical and stage show and a fashion show! I think that I succeeded. The number of visitors and the impressions of everyone who took their souls home speak for themselves! It was a fashion spectacle that will be talked about in Novi Sad for a long time!“.
“The Magician of Photography and Mystical Aesthetics – Pavel Surovi continues his visual navigation of new seas carrying on his sailboat as always – a precious cargo. This time, it is the miraculous treasure chest of the sorceress Mira Brtka, which gets its new life on the waves of the Pannonian Sea under the command of Captain Surovi.
After the royal “Corona” and “Tron”, this new voyage puts the stamp on Pavel’s fascinating visual Trilogy, which will tell its miraculous stories for a long time to come…
The story of Mira Brtka begins in Novi Banovci on the Danube… travelling along the Danube from Belgrade, through Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Prague, all the way to Tokyo, and then through Rome, the whole world does not end, but continues its peculiar life of this times with the eyes and magical skills of Pavel Surovi, so similar in many ways to the multifaceted and multi-layered Mira Brtka.
It was just a question of when the two of them would meet on that long journey, if not at the same time, but outside of time, to which they both belong. Thus began another story without an end, like the works, but also the rich collections of Maga Pavel and Mira the Magician – as inexhaustible as their imaginations. Both insatiable in creativity, they proved to be fanatical in collecting valuable and rare art objects, artefacts and exhibits of ethnographic material, primarily from the Slovak Vojvodina National Treasury, but also from many other parts of the world. In different periods, Mira and Pavel did similar or the same things, guided by their infallible taste and aesthetic intuition, but also by the philosophy of life by which they both combined the glamorous style of high fashion with mysticism, history with the beyond, Vision seen only by the Third Eye.
What is the Secret and Magic of this meeting: the meeting of Brtka and Surovi? In their mutual hyper-aestheticism, dedication to the Celebration of Beauty, or in Pavel’s mysticism and inclination towards the ancient Mysteries? Mira’s avant-garde which is inextricably linked with the vaults of tradition…? Or as Pavel Surovi himself sees Mira’s work: “Mira forms the modern Paradise woman of the 21st century!”
Or is the secret hidden in the careful selection and wise management of Pavel’s Models, perfect examples of unattainable and mysterious female beauty frozen in eternity, worthy of medieval virgins and untouchable ladies from Renaissance portraits of Van Eyck? Or the secret lies in carefully chosen details, accessories, perfect backgrounds such as tapestries from medieval castles, cinematically lit scenography as well as all that aesthetically chiselled ambience with rugs, carpets, veils, scarves, swords, staffs, tridents, old weapons, headdresses, chests and wardrobes that lead to the promised land of Narnia…
You will find out the secret when you open this forgotten chest of Mira Brtkova with priceless treasures on Pavel Surovi’s sailing ship.” – pointed out Simonida Stanković, the author of the essay and criticism about the exhibition.
