Two years ago I painted a mural in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As always, my design was inspired by a local lace pattern. Everyone I spoke to, regardless of nationality or religion, recognized this pattern as familiar, well-known. It turned out that this pattern is a common cultural code for all people living in a multinational, multireligious Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of where they come from and how they identify themselves. Everyone associated it with family home and the good old days. Then I came up with the idea of an installation that symbolizes this deep, intercultural bond of all the local nationalities.
During my current stay in Mostar, local lace makers gave me dozens of laces that I wove into my installation. The work was created in a symbolic place, in the building of the university library, destroyed during the last war in the 1990s. More than 100,000 books were burned here.
I created the installation with the intention of peace, understanding and a successful common future for all the wonderful people who live here.
Many thanks to the entire @streetartsfestivalmostar team! Thank you to all lacemakers for the beautiful laces – @zekiradjonko Zekira, Milka, Senka, Dražena and Ifeta. One lace in the middle is a polish lace, made by Alina Krupa (Alina Oczko).
