Partizanka

Jelena Telecki was born in Croatia and left Yugoslavia during the 1991–2001 Yugoslav War with her family. She lived in Serbia as a refugee before migrating to Australia in 1999 and said, "This set of events and experience of living in a country going through a dramatic geopolitical and cultural change had a great impact on my life and my art practice." This influence can be seen in Telecki’s paintings that reflect on the representation of military figures in art and popular culture from the former Yugoslavia.

'Partizanka' is a painting of a female Yugoslav partisan soldier from the Second World War. The Yugoslav Partisans were one of the most effective resistance movements against Axis countries in Europe during the Second World War. Lead by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and commanded by Josip Broz, known as ‘Tito’, Yugoslav Partisans staged guerrilla campaigns against the occupying forces of Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria. Towards the end of the war, they numbered around 800 000, including nearly 100 000 women soldiers known as partizanka who were respected for their bravery and dedication. Yugoslav partisans helped a number of Australians during the war, including Sargeant Ernest James Brough who escaped a POW camp to Croatia and was befriended by partisan soldier Boris Puks, whose cap is now held at the Australian War Memorial. Former Yugoslav partisans also migrated to Australia with their families in the years following the war.

Telecki painted this work of a partizanka after a famous partisan folk song called 'Mlada Partizanka' about how partizanka carry guns, throw bombs and can dance kolo (a traditional folk dance). Telecki said: "It [the folk song] made me imagine this cool, bizarre or fetish partisan fighter 'navigating’ before the nightfall and between the battles and dance time." She also references the work of contemporary Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovic who researched the stories of Yugoslav partisan women and re-imagined them as fashion models in her work 'GENXX' (1998–2011).