Ana Kusmic (she/her) is a Montreal-based visual artist whose expressive work reflects her emotions and memories with a tinge of nostalgia. With bachelor degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts from Concordia University, she draws inspiration  from her personal experiences as well as the therapeutic aspect of the creative process. Her art is shaped by childhood memories and a reflection about identity after being involuntarily displaced to Canada, fleeing the war in her native Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using watercolor and pencil, she creates mostly figurative works featuring at times reflective or humorous handwritten notes. In mostly large scale her drawings have a striking, immersive, sincere, and playful aesthetic.

My personal experience of belonging to two cultures - while sometimes feeling like I am a part of neither - is a core element of my work. I focus on aesthetics, technical skill, and storytelling, sometimes even incorporating handwritten elements. I most often turn to watercolor and graphite drawing, preferring large formats.  The combination of the delicacy of these techniques and the intensity of emotions expressing deeply personal subjects through portraiture and storytelling: The transparent, irreversible marks of watercolor and graphite echo my fragmented childhood memories and sense of identity split between two cultures.
I am currently working on a series about processing displacement, by:
-exploring our inmate need to share our stories and hear the stories of others;
-the Idyllic childhood memories, juxtaposed with slightly unsettling images(like a self-portrait with a Barbie doll causing a nosebleed);
-the inability of a child to articulate their or even grasp the complex emotions tied to being displaced(In my first diary entry after arriving in Canada, I expressed a dream of returning to my hometown as soon as possible)
-the balance between the creative process serving to process my experience and the desire to escape and clear my mind from those same subjects.

This exploration connects my past and present, allowing me to process the ongoing negotiation of identity between cultures and the emotional landscapes of memory.