Rooted in the experience of growing up with a father whose life is marked by years of work as a baker, the body of work reflects on the ways we inherit not only memories and stories, but also the physical traces of those who came before us. Through the installation Cave and the works on linen Studies: The One Before Me and the One Before Them, Bekteši transforms ordinary objects associated with his father’s profession into intimate records of labor and lived experience. In Cave, he engraves the outlines of his father’s hands onto worn metal trays, drawing attention to the marks that years of physical work leave on the body. The hands become both a personal portrait and a testament to a lifetime of providing for others. In the paintings, layers of phyllo dough evoke the accumulation of time, memory, and generations, suggesting that what we inherit is often embedded in everyday materials and gestures rather than preserved through stories alone. Bringing together the body, domestic objects, and the materials of baking, the works consider labor as more than a means of survival: it becomes an expression of love, responsibility, and care. Through his father’s hands and the traces of his work, Bekteši reflects on the often-unseen efforts that sustain families and create a sense of shelter, asking how the lives and sacrifices of previous generations continue to shape our own. (Excerpt from the exhibition text)

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Installation: Drypoint on stainless steel serving trays, phyllo dough on linen
Exhibition text: Martina Munivrana
Photo documentation: David Bakarić
Manuš Gallery
Zagreb, Croatia
2026