“From the Sources of Spirituality”: Goran Sivački’s Photographic Journey Through Serbian Holy Sites!

At the “Gračanica” Cultural Center, an exhibition of photographs by Goran Sivački, “From the Sources of Spirituality,” will open on September 10 at 8 p.m., created during a years-long photographic journey through some of the most significant Serbian monasteries and holy sites.

The audience will see photographs of Hilandar, Visoki Dečani, the Patriarchate of Peć, Gračanica, Our Lady of Ljeviš, the Holy Archangels near Prizren, Studenica, Žiča, Sopoćani, Đurđevi Stupovi, the Church of Saint Peter, Mileševa, Ravanica and Manasija, as well as the monasteries of Fruška Gora and the Ovčar-Kablar Gorge.

Through photographs of architecture, frescoes, details of monastery complexes, as well as monastic life and moments captured behind monastery walls, Sivački does not view these holy sites merely as historical and cultural heritage. His photographs also capture the life that continues within them, the atmosphere of the spaces and what visitors often take with them, even though it cannot always be seen or described.

From a Photography Assignment to an Exhibition

A large part of the photographic material from which the exhibition was created was taken during a collaboration with Jazak Voda, for whose blog Serbian monasteries were photographed. The photographs, which originally emerged as part of stories about their spiritual, historical and cultural heritage, have now been brought together into an authorial exhibition and presented in large format.

It was precisely the numerous journeys and time spent in monasteries that also determined the title of the exhibition.

“None of these places, and especially the monasteries I visited, were merely a photographic challenge for me. I felt a special tranquility and peace in them. That is also where the title of this exhibition came from – ‘From the Sources of Spirituality,’ because I had the feeling that something of the spirituality we all carry within us also springs from these places,” says Goran Sivački.

Three Decades Behind the Lens

Goran Sivački has been working professionally in photography for 30 years, is a member of ULUPUDS and the Management Board of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS). He has received numerous awards for his work in Serbia and abroad, and currently works as a photography editor at the 24sedam.rs portal.

The “From the Sources of Spirituality” exhibition will officially open on September 10 at 8 p.m. at the “Gračanica” Cultural Center, Cara Lazara 60, in Gračanica, and will run until October 1, 2026.

The organizer of the exhibition is the “Gračanica” Cultural Center, while Jazak Voda is the exhibition’s friend.