Bojana Ilic (BOJITT) on Storytelling Through Abstraction, Empowerment, and Sending Art to the Moon
Bojana Ilic, also known as BOJITT, is a Serbian-born, US-based artist and designer with over 25 years of experience. Her passion for inspiring emotions drives her mission to develop and deliver clients’ brands, fostering deeper connections with consumers. BOJITT's work is internationally recognized, spanning public and private collections, art in contemporary productions and television, as well as international murals.
Her paintings have been featured in prestigious collections and venues, including Willis Tower in Chicago, Kohl’s Children’s Museum, Art in Embassies—U.S. Government’s International Art Program, and the latest inclusion in THE LUNAR CODEX collection—a digitized museum sent to the Moon via SpaceX.
BOJITT's work can be seen in several Emmy Award-winning TV productions for Apple TV+, FX+, Amazon Prime, and Paramount Pictures. Her work has been featured in publications such as Modern Luxury, CS Magazine, Chicago Times, and Chicago Tribune, as well as live TV appearances on NBC Morning Show.
BOJITT has received international grants for participation in artist residencies, including the latest “Graniti Murales” in Sicily and Châteaux Orquevoux in France. She continues to empower fellow artists and create opportunities for collaborations with industry leaders.
Her work speaks directly from her heart, pushing for the celebration of life and inspiring conversations, with the aim of spreading love through her art.
Artist Statement
Since moving from Serbia to the U.S. 17 years ago, my practice has focused on creating work united by gesture and purpose. My abstractions tell stories through mixed media like acrylic and spray paint, bold colors focused on climax and culmination. Stories inspire me, but their perspective springs from my own. Tales of overcoming are my favorite, yet I recognize survivorship is just part of the human experience. Once a story pours into my soul, it’s alchemized into possibilities like color palettes and arrangements of texture. The paintings that result honor every complexity, from rising action to denouement…more
Website: www.bojittart.com
Instagram: @bojitt.art
Mural by the artist for the Granity Murales Project, Sicily
Interview
How has your journey from Serbia to the U.S. shaped your creative voice?
I started my career in Belgrade, Serbia as a fashion designer—owner of the brand TIGIDI in the early 2000s. My dream was to grow beyond my country and my comfort zone and move out of Serbia and explore opportunities not only in design and fashion but also in any creative business, and my passion—PAINTING.
I was always an entrepreneur from an early age, so with that mindset I was extremely passionate about networking and making my way in the creative industry—not practically as a BRAND NAME, but more as a successful business.
I did not come from a financially wealthy family, but a family whose wealth was in the values that we were taught.
Navigating business, creative projects, and working on TV sets while raising a child wasn’t easy—but my love for art and creative work always won.
In the best possible way, that constant learning and evolving makes great art. And if you dive deeper into all my work, you will find women empowerment as well as the fight for equality and human rights.
Your paintings feel like stories told through color and movement—how do you translate narrative into abstraction?
Abstraction is the stage we arrive at—mine comes naturally after studying the shape, color, human form, space… My abstractions tell stories through mixed media like acrylic and spray paint, bold colors focused on climax and culmination. Stories inspire me, but their perspective springs from my own. Tales of overcoming are my favorite, yet I recognize survivorship is just part of the human experience. Once a story pours into my soul it’s alchemized into possibilities like color palettes and arrangements of texture. The paintings that result honor every complexity, from rising action to denouement.
What role does emotion play in your choice of colors, textures, and gestures?
Ha, best question ever! Emotion is everything in my work—navigating it and finding the right color and shape comes naturally. I get in the “out of body” state of mind and let myself be. It feels like there is a picture somewhere in my brain but I will know what it looks like once I see it on a canvas or a wall. So I have to deliver it by trusting the process led by emotion.
Can you walk us through how a story becomes a painting for you, from inspiration to execution?
Once a story pours into my soul it’s then alchemized into material possibilities like color palettes and arrangements of texture. Time is an unseen medium—I take regular intervals to step away. There are intentional moments of leading and following in my practice, chasing and being chased. All the planning is my being chased, receiving both stories and subconscious guidance.
Painting is the chasing, a meditative dance honed through breathing and my own yoga practice. Each artwork holds its own bespoke symbolic language suited to its story. Shapes become characters, drops and splashes direct the flow of energy and action. My own “handwriting” punctuates every tale with an exclamation point—loops of automatic writing like actual words the viewer inadvertently projects their own narrative onto. Survivorship is just one badge a person wears. I include every part of a story from rising action to denouement to honor variety within the human experience. They manifest as layers.
Your work appears in everything from embassies to Emmy-winning TV shows. How does your approach shift between fine art and commercial collaborations?
It is easy—like changing the rhythm for your music you want to listen to on a certain day. Ability to adapt is the best key for success in the creative industry. I believe in life too. Understanding the client for me comes from the designer's point of view and I use artistic expression to deliver. It is easy—like changing the rhythm for your music you want to listen to on a certain day.
What does it mean to you to have your work included in something as symbolic as The Lunar Codex?
It means to me what it means to the world—the moment in time when we as humans from this planet sent our ART FOOTPRINT to another. It is definitely a great part of the legacy I am leaving, obviously in this universe. It is bigger than just me and my work, but what I stand for and my mission as an artist. IT IS EMPOWERING! And that’s why I create—to tell the stories, and spread more love and empower people to think bigger than themselves. I am forever thankful for Samuel Paleta and my dear friend Sergio Gomez (33 Contemporary) for all the work they do.
I called my mom when I received the news and said, “I told you I am going to send my art to the Moon.”
Public artwork by the artist installed in Willis Tower, Chicago
What are you currently working on, and what are you most excited to explore next in your practice?
Entrepreneurs’ minds are never resting.
Working on a new venture that will merge my passion for empowerment, travel, and cultural exploration into a platform to empower women. That’s all I can say for now. 🙂
This one is going to be HUGE and makes me wake up at night! One step closer to my dream…
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Working on an idea to become a business is, as you know, a great way to grow and learn about yourself. For me this is who I am.
Also, I am excited for the upcoming collaboration with the Miami History Museum—in September, my work and workshop will be a part of the exhibit dedicated to the celebration of Serbian culture.
I am creating mixed media pieces for this show using traditional ornamental shapes from Serbian craft and traditional kilim design to tell a story about women in Serbia—merging modern and traditional will give artistic expression of exactly who we are. Followed by a creative workshop for Miami families to explore the meaning of art and craft from their cultures.
Love, Bojitt
