Forgotten Forest
Forgotten Forest
ZORA
Her Forgotten Forest
A painting project tracing the endangered Balkan lynx and the forest she calls home.
ZORA - Her Forgotten Forest is an ongoing series of oil paintings tracing a path through an endangered forest in the Balkans.
Rather than depicting the forest from a single viewpoint, the series follows its own rhythm, from the trees that stand as gatekeepers to the mouse that pauses at their roots and the lynx whose presence quietly connects the works.
At the centre is Zora, a rare Balkan lynx whose presence guides the project. Each painting offers a different encounter with the forest and the lives within it.
Developed alongside encounters with conservation work in North Macedonia, the project asks what it means to observe, remember, and paint a landscape whose inhabitants are increasingly vulnerable to disappearance.
Exhibitions
Skopje, North Macedonia
Opening: 5 Feb 2026, 19:00
Location: KSP Centar Jadro, Skopje
Duration: until 12 Feb
Niš, Serbia
Opening: 4 Oct 2026 19:00
Celebrating World Animal Day
Location: Livnica, Šumadijska 1, Niš
Duration: 4 Oct - 7 Oct (5 - 7 Oct: 16h - 22h)
Free entry
ZORA in Skopje
Why the Balkan Lynx
The Balkan lynx is one of Europe's rarest wild cats, surviving in a fragmented range across the Balkans. Its vulnerability became the starting point for ZORA, but the project gradually expanded beyond a single species toward the forest itself and the network of lives that surround it.
I did not grow up in this forest, but I have come to paint from a position of attention and responsibility toward it. ZORA is my attempt to bear witness to what remains, and to what may vanish.
Meet the Lynx Team
This project lives not only in the studio, but in the forest itself, through the conservation work of the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES).
I have had the opportunity to meet members of MES’s Balkan lynx team and learn about their work firsthand. They are scientists, conservationists, and field researchers who monitor this elusive population, maintain camera traps across remote terrain, and work to protect the habitats on which the Balkan lynx depends.
Part of the proceeds from this series will be allocated to support MES and their work to protect the Balkan lynx.
These encounters connect the paintings to the living landscape they depict, and to the people working to preserve it.
Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme
The Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme (BLRP) aims to restore a viable Balkan lynx population by addressing key threats. Through transboundary collaboration, research, monitoring, community engagement, policy advocacy and communication, the programme is working to improve conservation strategies, strengthen legal protection, and establish a sustainable habitat network for the species.