
Marina Krstikj was born in 1982 in Kumanovo. She completed her elementary and high school education in Kumanovo. She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. She entered the world of art when she was very young thanks to her mother who would take her to almost all the exhibitions and art events in the city. This slowly paved her way to fine-art photography. As a participant in the ‘SeeU in Motion’ seminar in 2003, she met with professional photographers from Belgium and France, which planted the idea in her head that she should follow their path. It was one decade later, in 2013 that she took up a photography course led by Vladimir Jovanovski at Photo Cinema Club ‘Kozjak’ in Kumanovo. In 2014, she and 20 other people passionate about fine-art photography formed the Photo Club ‘Kumanovo’. She perceives photography as a way of telling a story for those unable to tell it themselves. Her focal point is the person at a certain time and place, in a situation they placed themselves into or were placed there by chance. She has an interesting approach to photographing architectural works. She also experiments with conceptual photography, which is her way of expressing her deepest thoughts and feelings. She took part in over 50 national and international photo salons where she received numerous prizes and certificates. Her first solo exhibition entitled ‘Dolphinography’ was held at the Malinski Photo Festival in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded the title Photographer of the Year in Kumanovo and in 2018, she was chosen to be the president of Photo Club ‘Kumanovo’. She is one of the organizers of Malinski Photo Festival and ‘Women and Photography’. She has also been a member of the juries in Turkey, Egypt, Kumanovo and Kratovo.