After 14 years teaching painting and drawing at the School of Applied Arts in Zadar, Croatia (since 2009), I experienced a profound need to return to my own artistic practice. This shift hasn't diminished my commitment to teaching rather, it has made me more fulfilled as both an artist and educator. It also presents a paradox: for the rest of the world, I’m ‘older’ but in the world of art I am a beginner. while chronologically 'older,' in the public art world I am a beginner. I have lived and breathed art since birth (Split, Croatia, 1980), the public knows me, only until recently. My formal education includes the High School of Fine Arts in Split and a BFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Split (2003). I work across all available techniques and media. My current practice has taken me to diverse projects such as, 'The Mirror of the Nation', in which I use Croatian proverbs as conceptual frameworks; 'Chickens' features yellow rubber toy chickens as protagonists in 'judgmental' paintings; and the intertwined 'Doctor's Office' and 'Oya, noya, metanoia' cycles emerged from medical consultations where my psychosomatic concerns went unheard. These experiences prompted me to connect psyche, body, and illness myself a journey toward metanoia, an enlightenment that returned me to my essential self.