Zarja Ražman, a native of Izola, is a member of the Italian minority in Slovenia. Despite her academic background in painting and graphic art, which she gained in Italy (Venice, Urbino), it is her exploration of fine art media and her experience of herself in relation to her surroundings that is the unstoppable core of her creativity.

“My main means of expression is the fine art medium. I draw, paint, photograph or make graphic prints. Maybe I prefer the brush above all. The key theme or image that was initially part of my creations was the body, the female body, my body. I was focusing on the curves, on the form of the curves, I was observing the surface, focusing strongly on the outward matter. My first images, bodily figures had no head, their identity was elsewhere, not in facial features. It's funny, it sometimes occurred to me when drawing how I forgot that I had a body.”
“In the last two years I have been exploring printmaking a lot: I am interested in layers, in what is below, what is above, in gradation, in transparency.”
“Of course I draw inspiration from myself, from my experience, which mostly relates to my relationship with the Other.”

“The triptych of works comprising Delusions, Forest and Wake up! is the result of conceptual exploration which I entitled emergenze. The word emergenze is the plural form of the Italian word emergenza, which originates in the verb emergere, and can be translated as emergences or emergencies. Emergenze are matters or states originating in the deep and coming to the surface, appearing, becoming visible, becoming aware of the light, of the world. This is a dynamic process. Emergenze can be memories, emotions, features, lines or drawings emerging on paper. The other side of the emergenze concept refers to a situation, need, necessity. For me, it is of necessity that I create and express myself in fine art.”

—Zarja Ražman