Tjaša Rener
BIO
Tjaša Rener was born in 1986 in Slovenj Gradec (Slovenia), and lives and works in Accra (Ghana) and Ljubljana. She is a visual artist and researcher with a practice primarily expressed through painting and screen-printing, influenced by 20th-century modernists. Human relations are the central motif of her work that addresses everyday culture from Slovenian and Ghanaian perspectives. Her first encounter with screen-printing was during a summer residency in Sofia Art Macedonia in 2010, led by the professor and artist Ines Krasić. Rener built on this experience through studio practice at the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC, Ljubljana) and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO), Slovenia (2008–2013). Her experimentation with screen printing and technical agility was recognized by the University of Ljubljana, which awarded Rener a special merit prize in 2012. In 2010, Rener began visiting Ghana, particularly a remote village by Lake Bosumtwi, a lake that sits in an ancient meteor impact crater. Living in a close-knit community has shaped her understanding of Ghanaian culture and how it manifests in daily life. Since 2016, she has shifted to exploring life in Accra, a city marked by stark economic division. Rener has dedicated time to studying and representing “systems” of survival which she articulates through technically complex paintings and installations. In 2021 her work was shown at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in South Africa, with the Christoph Moller Gallery. She has presented her work in numerous group and independent exhibitions, such as solo shows at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška and Galerija Velenje in 2021, and a large solo show with a residency at Gallery 1957 in Ghana. In 2023 Rener exhibited as an invited artist at the 14th Kaunas Biennale Lithuania and at the 35th Graphic Biennale Ljubljana, where she was chosen for the Printed Portfolio of the Biennale. In the same year she showed her latest work at the Ravnikar Gallery Space in Ljubljana. Her work reveals her continuous search for belonging, and she finds solace in sentimental objects, using such “relics” to replicate and reinterpret the feeling of home. In her work Rener raises questions about how history and context are impacted by geographical displacement.
https://www.instagram.com/Tjasa_rener/
WORK AT THE EXHIBITION
Photo: Francis Kokoroko, 2022
Tiny Gallery initiative, 2022– ongoing
installation (iron construction, wood, glass), 20 × 40 ×15 cm
Tjaša Rener has dedicated the last decade to creating spaces that bridge artistic expression and accessibility, with projects such the Open House Studio in Ghana and Panovci 9 in Slovenia, making hubs for cultural programming and collaborations that bridge the hierarchical differences between North and South. The Tiny Gallery concentrates the traditional gallery into a miniature form. It challenges the conventions of traditional galleries and invites the local community, especially the younger generation in Ghana, to awaken their curiosity to engage with art in novel and remarkable ways. Located on the side of a dusty road in a working-class neighborhood of Accra, the Tiny Gallery serves an educational purpose while making art visible and accessible. It aims to provide a platform for international collaboration and connections through and beyond art. Since 2022, the gallery has hosted 18 exhibitions, showing both local and international artists.