Jakob Emeršič was born in Medribnik, in the Haloze area of eastern Slovenia. Jakob came from a large family with thirteen siblings and he was the oldest of them all. At a young age he decided to study at the tailoring school in Maribor. He then married Marija Kristovič, my grandmother and was offered a job as manager of clothing factory Moda in Ptuj. In 1976, together with my parents they built a new house in the near by village Zabovci. The family moved in there not long before I was born. Jakob loved tailoring which he continued to do even in his retirement. He had many hobbies but it was the hunting that was, in 1993, fatal for him when he accidentally got shot by his colleague.



Photos project ‘Jakob’ examines the relationship between camera and performance. The project took place in a ‘for sale house’ in my native village Zabovci, where I lived together with my grandparents for several years. The narrative of the project is based on Jakob Emeršič’s, my grandfather’s, daily activities and the strict schedule that he used to follow every day. Through self-portraits I reveal how he walked and stood. I used the house as a stage in which I reenacted his daily rituals such as washing, grafting apples, heating up the house and getting himself a drink. The 70’s decoration in the house depicts the nostalgia for Yugoslavian times; something that might be lost forever once the house is sold. 

EXHIBITIONS

2022 | Repressed memory, Mihelič gallery, Ptuj, Slovenia

2017 | Identity, group exhibition, Rotterdam Photo Festival


2016 | Vulnerable, group exhibition, Kadmium, Delft


2015 | GUP, group exhibition, Art’otel, Amsterdam


2015 | AIM, graduate exhibition, Loods 6, Amsterdam