Marilena Preda Sânc (born April 17, 1955 in Bucharest) is a Romanian visual artist, art educator (current position – professor at National University of Arts, Bucharest, and author of feminism and Public Art writings. She is known for being one of the most active feminist artists in the country. She uses a multidisciplinary approach by employing various media such as drawing, painting, mural art, book-objects, video, performance, photography, and installation, and her work has been shown in museums, galleries, conferences, symposium, and broadcast venues around the world.
Her career spanned across two eras in Romania: the social, cultural, and political restrictions of the Communist era and freedom of the post-revolution era that allowed her to expand her expression. Preda Sânc explored a variety of themes including feminism, gender identity, gender fusion, globalization, self-exploration, and the interaction between public and private spaces.
Education and Work
Preda Sânc received her B.A. from the National University of Arts in Bucharest in 1980. She later received a Ph. D. in visual arts in 2002. Her early work in the 80s was confined by the censorship regulations of the Communist government, but emphasized the exploration of the relationships between body and space (e.g. My Body is Space in Space, Time For Memory of All), and the expression of self-analysis. She states 'I am concerned about the idea of the inner and outer landscape of the human body; about places for meditation thoughts and emotions, opening a path toward a deeper penetration of multiple layers of reality.' Even though she faced restrictions, her art was still considered very experimental for the time, as seen in projects such as her intervention photographs and photo collages. After the 1989 revolution, Preda Sânc expanded her work to include a critical analysis of social and political norms in the country. This was because of the increased freedom for expression in the Eastern European art world as well as increased access to information from the Western world. During this time she also diversified her technique to include globe objects, video performances, and multimedia installations. Influenced by the war in Yugoslavia in 1999, she explored issues of globalization and political and cultural conflict (e.g. Remapping the World). She also no longer was separated from the feminist movement and was one of the only Romanian artists that actually embraced this label.