Maja Gajic

Maja Gajić is a Melbourne-based visual artist originally from Serbia, working across painting, drawing, printmaking and handmade paper. She holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Arts in Belgrade and has maintained an active artistic practice for more than fifteen years, exhibiting through 13 solo exhibitions and more than 60 group exhibitions internationally.

Her work explores the relationship between nature, materiality and human intervention. Rather than using conventional art materials, she creates works from organic matter gathered from her surroundings, including sawdust, handmade charcoal, bark, leaves, blossoms, handmade paper and natural pigments. By allowing the material itself to become both medium and subject, she examines cycles of growth, decay, repair and regeneration, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship with the natural world.

Since relocating to Melbourne, Maja has continued to develop her practice through close observation of Australia's unique flora and landscapes. Collecting naturally fallen plant material has become an integral part of her research, with these materials later reappearing in her drawings, paintings and handmade paper. Her practice is grounded in careful observation, slow processes and an ethical approach to collecting, using only materials that have completed their natural life cycle.

Before moving to Australia, Maja taught drawing and painting for five years while maintaining her professional art practice. She has also led workshops in drawing, printmaking and natural materials, valuing art as a way of sharing knowledge, curiosity and meaningful connections with people and place.

Before relocating to Australia, Maja was an artist-in-residence at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where she further expanded her research into natural materials and site-responsive practice. She continues to explore the possibilities of locally sourced Australian plants and fibres, investigating how natural materials can carry memory, environmental histories and a sense of place while fostering a deeper connection between contemporary art and the living landscape.

Maja has been a resident at Shakespeare Grove Artist Studios since July 2026.