Natalija Mijatović (b. Belgrade, Serbia) received a B.F.A. from the University of Montenegro and a M.F.A. in painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Mijatović has exhibited internationally in many solo and invitational exhibits, such as the National Gallery of Serbia, CUE Art Foundation; Museum of American Art, Philadelphia; Stephansdom, Vienna, Austria; International Festival of Alternative Cultural Exchange (F.A.C.E.) - Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia; Cluj and Bucharest, Romania; Plovdiv and Sofia, Bulgaria; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Strasbourg, France; Eindhoven, and The Netherlands. Mijatović is a recipient of many international awards, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation M.F.A. Grant, New York; the Faculty Excellence Award at the Savannah College of Art and Design, GA; the Center for Contemporary Art Award in Podgorica, Montenegro; and residencies such as Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France. She is a professor and chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of Delaware.
Of Snow and Sorrow
My practice is rooted in silence.
In the hush of winter fields, the brittle husks of seed pods, the long shadows where trees meet the ground — I listen.
I draw from landscapes emptied of spectacle, where absence speaks louder than presence, and the natural world becomes a vessel for grief, memory, and quiet transformation. Much of my work is built around this slow unfolding — an intimate dialogue with impermanence, with sacredness, and with the deep emotional strata buried beneath the visible.
I am drawn to the places where spiritual inheritance and personal history intersect.I remember my previous life as a wintry silence of an empty city, ashes of the burnt home, and snow. I often return to winter as a metaphor, not for lifelessness, but for suspended time — a season of waiting, mourning, and gathering strength. Snow, with its infinite, soft repetitions, echoes the multitude of small, unspoken losses — and like seeds beneath the frozen soil, those losses hold the potential for renewal.
There is a thread that holds me quietly, insistently: the belief that beauty can still be an act of resistance, and that tenderness is a form of truth. Even in the face of historical trauma, ecological collapse, and personal grief, I return to the act of painting as a gesture of care, of devotion. I think of it as a quiet vigil, a way of saying:
I am still here. I still remember.
Selected Exhibitions
2025 The Poetics of Snow, solo exhibition. Roselle Center for Fine Arts, University of Delaware, DE.
80th Traditional Exhibition, group exhibition. Art Pavilion Gallery, Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro. (catalogue)
2024 The Covenant Of Snow, solo exhibition. Judith Rae Solomon Gallery, Youngstown State University, OH.
SECAC Juried Exhibition, group exhibition, juried by Alice Stone-Collins. Ernst G. Welch School of Art and Design Galleries, Georgia State University (host of the Southeastern College Art Conference)
2023 Quiet Garden, solo exhibition. Victorian House Gallery, Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL.
Žal, two-person exhibition, Recitation Hall Gallery, University of Delaware.
Tightly Knit, Loose Fit, juried group exhibition, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY.
2022 Altered, invitational group exhibition, curated by Ann Welles. Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts, Trumansburg, NY. 2021 Of Snow and Sorrow, solo exhibition. Dowd Fine Arts Center, Cortland University, SUNY. (catalogue)
Representations of Architecture, group exhibition. Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, via Artsy Online Exclusive.
Out of the Blue, group exhibition. Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, via Artsy Online Exclusive.
Of Snow and Sorrow, Artist Insight Series. Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, Artsy Viewing Room.
2021 Of Snow and Sorrow, solo exhibition. Dowd Fine Arts Center, Cortland University, SUNY. (catalogue)
2019 Ineffable Manifestations, invitational group exhibition, curated by Jon Seals. Yale Divinity School Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, CT.
2018 On Real and Unreal, invitational group exhibition. Curated by Magdalena Andrić. 6th Belgrade Festival of European Literature. Dom Omladine, Belgrade, Serbia.
2017 Sneyg, solo exhibition. Nacionalna Galerija, Belgrade, Serbia. (catalogue)
Mediterenien Routes – Imago Mundi: Benetton Collection, invitational commissioned exhibition. Zisa, Zona Arti Contemporanee, Palermo, Italy. Selector: Mirjana Dabović Pejović, curator and program manager at the Atelier Dado, National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje, Montenegro. (catalogue)
Face to Face, Imago Mundi: Benetton Collection, Bosnian Cultural Center, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The mapping of contemporary creativity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Invitational commissioned exhibition. Selector: Mirjana Dabović Pejović, curator and program manager at the Atelier Dado, National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje, Montenegro. (catalogue)
2016 Sand and Snow, solo exhibition. Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts Gallery, Binghamton, NY. (catalogue)
2015 48th Traditional Herceg Novi Winter Salon, invitational juried exhibition. Galerija Josip Bepo Benković, Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Jurors: Vladana Kosić, Borka Božović, Ana Ivanović Olivia Ivanović Strugar. (catalogue) Awarded First Prize.
Imago Mundi, invitational commissioned exhibition. Fondazione Benetton Studi Recerche, Italy. (catalogue)
20 Years of Gallery Chaos, international group exhibition from the Gallery Chaos collection. Gallery Chaos, Belgrade, Serbia.
2011 Residual Landscape, solo exhibition. Alexander Hall, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA. Exhibition in conjunction with the 14th annual SECAC Conference. Curated by Melissa Messina, Artistic Director of Flux. (catalogue)
Art In Embassies Program, invitational group exhibition. Embassy of the United States, Belgrade, Serbia. (catalogue) Foreword by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
DeFine Art Festival, juried group exhibition. Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA.
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