Viktor Naumovski

Standing in the Sun

Viktor Naumovski

Standing in the Sun is based on a time when the real and the imaginary folded neatly into one-another; We spent days playing in the dirt during my country’s passage from war to westernization. Inspired by the emotional experience of growing up in a country in transition, Standing in the Sun is an alternative narrative. It is a coming of age story, focusing on a group of boys living in suburban Skopje, Macedonia. Both the group of boys' and the nation’s state of transition are explored through the boys’ perspective; where masculinity and national pride are highly celebrated and appreciated. With my childhood friends and family as participants in all stages of production, we explore relations between I as the director and them as outsiders of the art world. With our nation as our backdrop, we reimagine the present by revisiting the past. As a result, through this body of work, I investigate dynamics between our cultural identity and surroundings in Macedonia.