Join art director Stephanie Stamatis for a beautiful Balkan dinner inspired by her Macedonian heritage. Tickets will sell out, but we’ve saved you seats at the table. 

 

Stephanie Stamatis (a creative director and stylist for prominent editorial and commercial clients such as Julia Busuttil Nishimura) and local ceramic artist Sarah Nedovic have teamed up for Villages, a heartfelt exhibition that captures the simplicity of village lifestyle. Nedovic’s bold, abstract sculptures are inspired by brutalist spomenik monuments (of the former-Yugoslavian regions of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia) and the legacy of a bygone era.

 

To celebrate the exhibition, Stamatis and her team are taking you back to the village with an intimate long-table feast on May 25. Stamatis, a first-generation Macedonian Australian, welcomes you to her own family table with traditional vegetarian recipes passed down through her mother and grandmother.

 

Start with pickles, olives, toum, feta and avjar (capsicum and eggplant relish) mopped up with kozinjak (a sweet bread). Then delve into warming mains such as tavce gravce (beans and paprika), stuffed onions and chopped salad served with stacks of simit. To finish, there’s a selection of classic Macedonian desserts. Each course will be paired with wine and rakija (fruit brandy).

 

Bringing the Villages theme to life, Nedovic has sculpted interactive artefacts for the meal, which will be placed along the long table.

Tickets to the dinner are in high demand, but we have 10 set aside just for Access members to book. Hurry – it’s first in, best dressed.

 

Image: Stephanie Stamatis