Dusa Jesih was born in 1977 in Ljubljana. She has studied art and design at all levels of the education process, from a specialty secondary school of design and photography to the College of Visual Arts and on to a master’s program at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design. She also studied at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris and has spent time as an artist-in-residence in New York City. Jesih has held several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group and curated exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad. She has won several painting awards internationally, and in 2015 she received the highest national academic award: the Preseren Award.

The name “Dusa” refers to the soul — an idea the artist takes seriously and incorporates into her work. To Jesih, the concept of the soul and the soul itself provide inspiration for all of her works: “The goal of my art is to provide a critical overview of our social, cultural, and political spheres in a slightly unconventional manner. I am more interested in self-reflection on the phenomenon of alienation I am witnessing, as it goes hand in hand with globalization. I feel like sheer existence is draining our last bits of energy in these crazy times.”