The story of the Macedonian fly
The oldest known record of fly fishing is found in “De Natura Animalium”, by the Roman author Claudius Aelianus (175-235 A.D.). It is stated that in the Roman Province of Macedonia, between the cities known today as Thessaloniki and Edessa,
there was a river called Astraus where fish fed on flies that looked like something between a bee and a fly, which the natives called “Hippouros”.
If a human hand touched those flies, they fell apart. The fish instinctively knew the flies had already been caught before, so they would not even come near them. To lure the fish, fishermen fastened red wool around a hook, and tied two feathers
with wax paint from under a cock’s wattles to it.
This fly was know in the world as Macedonian fly.
This lure was attached to a line 1.8 meters long, the same length as the fishing rod.
About the founder of the brand “Macedonian fly – MAMKA” :
Marija Miloshevska was born in 1982 in Skopje. She matriculated in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, majoring in Ethnology and Anthropology. After finishing her studies in 2004, she diverted her attention to studying and conveying the process of the filigree technique via different media. In 2009, she had her first performance in/by which she did exactly that, depicting the process as a revival, starting from material omnipresence, through shaping and constructing, until the very end, when the work lives and possesses love and impetus. She was also one of the representatives for Macedonia at the XIV Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in the field of applied arts, which took place in Skopje in 2009.
Miloshevska presented her first independent exhibition of filigree jewellery and installations “OROROK – cold wire melted in a hot rhythm”, inspired by ex-Yugoslovenian rock music in Skopje, Gevgelija, Ljubljana.
The year 2012 is a significant creative year for Miloshevska, having two performances about filigree technique, both in Skopje and Vienna, while also promoting her first documentary “Silver Song”, screened across multiple festivals outside Macedonia.
The Festival of Rock-Movie Documentaries “DORF” in Vinkovci, Croatia, had entrusted Marija to be part of the creative team and design the prizes. In July, 2015, she managed to make the prize for lifetime achievement for David Bowie, presented to him by the festival Skopje Cinema City.
In collaboration with the curatorial organisation “Something Human” from London, Miloshevska realised two performances: “Home, migration, identity” in Skopje and “Crisis” in Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, Great Britain.
She takes part in the project for entrepreneurs in the organisation CEED HUB in 2017, supported by the IME programme of the Swiss Embassy in Skopje.
Marija opens the Festival of New Media “Grisia Youth” in Rovinj, Croatia (2018) with the filigree-technique performance on “Art is alive”.
That very same year in November, Miloshevska participates in the research programme of Nomadic Dialogue in the organisation CCFT (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/380422/491653) at the University of Bergen for Art, Music and Design, Norway, where she introduced a performance and exhibition on „Between imaginary boundaries“ and „The ethics of fly fishing“.
In April, 2019, she was part of the renowned master of the filigree technique Goran Ristovic’s exhibition „Raskrshche“, in Manak’s House in Belgrade, Serbia.
Furthermore, Marija is also the owner of the brand #МАкедонскаМушичКА – МАМКА, whose products convey the story of the earliest written testimony of the artificial fly for fishing, known worldwide as Macedonian Fly. The idea behind this, as part of the creative industries, is presented on Creative Business Cup North Macedonia 2021.
Miloshevska won the prize BIG SEE fashion design for 2021 for her collection “MAMKA” in competition with 23 european countries – https://bigsee.eu/marija-miloshevska-mamka/
In September 2022 she had the exhibition “MAMKA – culture & filigree” in Ethnographic museum in Belgrade as one and only contemporary exhibition in 121 years existence of this museum. In October the same year the collection MAMKA was presented in Museum of Macedonia.
In May 2023 “MAMKA” was a part of Slovenian jewellery week and in October the same year, “MAMKA” was part of Ljubljana design week.