“Homeland”, 2015
A series of ten analog photographs made at different locations that have been directly affected by the war-time destruction in the last decade of the previous century. The chosen locations have in their heyday been, and some still are, focal points of social life of the community, which had functioned as such. Buildings such as a family house, educational institutions (elementary school, faculty), industrial facilities, and churches, have all, in their time, represented an integral part of the society that had occupied those spaces day in and day out. By the act of war, i.e. destruction, all of the buildings have been reduced to a state of being unrecognizable, repulsive and, in a way, remind us of “something we do not want to remember,” which has direct effect on the homogeneity of the community and disunity, and serves as a reason to constantly point fingers at someone. Some of the presented buildings serve their original purpose even today, such as Nikola Andrić Elementary School in Vukovar, where the disunity between ethnic groups is being potentiated to the extent that our youngest are being exposed to psychological violence in the context of disunity, as well as having daily encounters with the scars of destruction since their earliest age. The question that comes out of this is one of man and his morals who, aware of the destruction of the past, even more aware of the present, still, with full awareness, immorally trudges towards the future. A human figure in each of the photographs has closed eyes, and is holding his hand over his heart; he is static, frozen in time which, as it is to be assumed, will never make a turn for the better. The very act of putting one’s hand over one’s heart can be interpreted as pride, as it is most commonly interpreted, as sadness which is evident or, in the end, as resignation towards the observed condition.
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“Domovina”, 2015.
Serija od deset analognih fotografija nastalih na različitim lokacijama koje su bile direktno pogođene razaranjima tjekom rata 90-ih godina prošlog stoljeća. Odabrane lokacije svojevremeno su bile, dok su neke i danas, žarišta društvenog života zajednice koja je kao takva funkcionirala. Objekti poput obiteljskog doma, odgojne i obrazovne institucije (osnovna škola, fakultet), industrijska postrojenja, crkve svojevremeno su predstavljali integralni dio društva koje je svakodnevno boravilo u tim prostorima. Činom rata odnosno destrukcijom svi su objekti dovedeni do razine neprepoznatlivosti, odbojnosti i na neki način podsjećaju na “nešto čega se ne želimo sjećati” što direktno utječe na homogenost zajednice, razjedinjenost i razlog da se neprestano upire prst u nekoga. Neki od prikazanih objekata i danas služe prvotnoj svrsi, poput Osnovne škole Nikole Andrića u Vukovaru, gdje je razjedinjenost između etničkih skupina potencirana do te mjere da su najmlađi od malena izloženi psihičkom nasilju u kontekstu razjedinjenosti kao i svakodnevnom susretu sa ožiljcima destrukcije. Postavlja se pitanje čovjeka i njegovog morala; svjestan destrukcije prošlosti, još svjesniji sadašnjosti ali i dalje, još svjesnije nemoralno gazi prema budućnosti. Ljudski lik na svakoj fotografiji sklopljenih očiju drži ruku na srcu, statičan je, zaustavljen u vremenu koje, za pretpostaviti, nikad neće kretnuti na bolje. Sam čin stavljanja ruku na srce možemo protumačiti ponosom kao načešćom interpretacijom, tugom koja je očigledna ili pak rezignacijom viđenog stanja.
Mario Matoković 