Darija S. Radaković
– (1975) is a Bosnian-born, Calgary-based, interdisciplinary artist whose work is predominantly conceptual. She earned a BFA at the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Arts in Belgrade. Her experience of being a refugee in Belgrade in the ’90s, and being an immigrant in Canada two decades after the war shapes her art in how she questions issues of identity, equality, social conflict, war, trauma, etc.
For me, being an artist1 or doing art2 is not a choice. For as long as I can remember, I have been surrounded by art books, reproductions of beautiful renaissance and impressionist art and encyclopedias, catalogues from the contemporary art shows my father used to collect, and not to forget by artists. Art encompases my whole self.
I was born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in my teenage years experienced the bloody war that resulted from the terrible breakup of Yugoslavia3. I moved to Belgrade where I acquired my Fine Art degree. That gave me an opportunity to express my disgust with the authorities, the prevailing mentality and a tradition of making the wrong choices, to criticize society through my work and try to put the focus on some of the consequences of our collective misdoings.
The whole region of the former Yugoslavia experienced a trauma where a socialist society, in which a plurality of interests was held in check by the political monopoly of the ruling communist party, collapsed and underwent a violent fragmentation based on a primitive nationalist agenda. Formally the war was over in 1995. That same year in the town of Srebrenica more than 8000 innocent people, mostly men and boys were murdered for one and only reason – they were Muslims. Even though the main actor, the so-called “butcher of Bosnia”, was sentenced on 22nd November, 2017 by the International Criminal Tribunal to life imprisonment of 22 years, I don’t think that justice was fully served because many citizens are unaware of the role they played in that dangerous and bloody game, even if they were no more than passive onlookers just as “the United Nations peacekeeping mission” was. With that being said, it is obvious how the outrage, anger and sadness pour from my works (such as “Ethnically Clean Lannen”, “Minimal Consensus”, “We are tired”, “Two Perspectives”, and others)456789.
My family and I worked on becoming Canadians from 2007 until the 5th October 2015. Then with the announcement of the general election for the 18th October, the main issue became ‘should a woman be allowed to attend the citizenship ceremony, state the oath, and become a Canadian citizen while wearing a veil?’ I had to attend the ceremony wearing a niqab. This is Canada; I didn’t come here all the way from Bosnia to be told what I am or am not allowed to wear10!
Since then, we have survived the Covid plague and experienced new and quite contradictory rules, a new wave of Orwellian doublespeak and repression, new restrictions and new demonstrations of state power, this time mandating the wearing of face-covers11! It seems that all the issues I thought I had left behind are emerging in my new surroundings; that matters of collective and cultural identity and exclusivity are gaining ground, while civic liberty, individual responsibility, the culture of dialogue and the open society principles we had taken for granted have to be vigorously defended. These are unpleasant topics we’d rather avoid thinking about, a burden of the past in every nation’s history1213141516.
Even though I have always had a critical attitude toward my surroundings, when it comes to making art I tend to think that the use of some satire is inevitable, maybe even remedial1718192021. My work is never the same, neither in technique, style, or theme, but it is always an honest confrontation with the issue that captures my attention, and revealing that confrontation to the audience22232425262728.
The text was written in collaboration with Dejan Vasić (2022).
1Image: Darija S. Radaković, I Am an Anartist, 2018.2Image: Darija S. Radaković, I Do Not, 2020.
3Image: Darija S. Radaković, Wake Me Up, 2019.
4Image: Darija S. Radaković, Ordinary Tool, 2019.
5Image: Darija S. Radaković, Bypass, 2018.
6Image: Darija S. Radaković, Ethnically Clean Lanen, 2019.
7Image: Darija S. Radaković, Minimal Consensus, 2014.
8Exhibition This is Mural, curated by Dejan Vasić in the Center for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade, 2022, see: czkd.org/2022/07/ovo-je-mural/.
9Image: Darija S. Radaković, We Are Tired, 2021.
10Image: Darija S. Radaković, Two Perspectives, 2020.
11Image: Darija S. Radaković, Mis(s)placed Women?, delegated performance in the frame initiated by Tanja Ostojić, 2015.
12Reference: Darija S. Radaković, Daria’s Story, see: misplacedwomen.wordpress.com/category/calgary/.
13See: kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/programmes_projects/image_and_space/detail/northeast_southwest.html.
14Image: Darija S. Radaković, Let’s Get Lost, 2020.
15Image: Darija S. Radaković, You Don't Have to Be Right, 2019.
16Image: Darija S. Radaković, Warning, 2022.
17Image: Darija S. Radaković, No Exit, 2011.
18Zoran Janić, Darija S. Radaković, No Exit, 2011. See: aup.e-flux.com/project/darija-s-radakovic-no-exit/.
19Image: Darija S. Radaković, Reminding, 2021.
20Exhibition Human Capital, curated by Tak Pham at the Contemporary Calgary, 2022, see: contemporarycalgary.com/whats-on/human-capital.
21Image: Darija S. Radaković, Crops, 2021.
22Image: Darija S. Radaković, Social Justice, 2020.
23To the Awe, performance series initiated by Pam Tzeng and Elaine Weryshko, The New Gallery, Calgary, 2020.
24Image: Darija S. Radaković, Canadian Living, 2012.
25Image: Darija S. Radaković, Facing Self-isolation, 2020.
26Exhibition Ups and Downs, Highs and Lows… and the Forgotten, curated by Branislav Dimitrijević and Ana Miljanić at the Center for Cultural Decontamination, see: upsdownshighslows.com.
27Image: Darija S. Radaković, Perpetuum Mobile, 2021.
28Image: Darija S. Radaković, Pieta, 2021.
– (1975) rođena je u Bosni, a danas živi u Kalgariju. Ona je interdisciplinarna umetnica čiji je rad pretežno konceptualan. Stekla je diplomu osnovnih studija na Akademiji likovnih umetnosti Univerziteta u Beogradu. Lično iskustvo izbeglice u Beogradu ’90-ih godina, i imigrantkinje u Kanadi dve decenije posle rata, oblikuje njenu umetnost kroz preispitivanje problema identiteta, jednakosti, društvenog konflikta, rata, traume, itd.
Biti umetnik1 ili stvarati umetnost2, za mene nije pitanje. Dokle god da mi sećanje seže, bila sam okružena knjigama iz umetnosti, reprodukcijama umetnosti renesanse i impresionizma, i enciklopedijama, katalozima sa izložbi savremene umetnosti koje je sakupljao moj otac – i da ne zaboravim, i samim umetnicima. Umetnost me je obuhvatala celu.
S obzirom da sam rođena i odrasla u Bosni i Hercegovini, tokom svojih tinejdžerskih godina sam iskusila krvavi rat kao posledicu užasnog raspada Jugoslavije3. Preselila sam se u Beograd gde sam stekla diplomu na Fakultetu likovnih umetnosti. To mi je dalo mogućnost da izrazim svoje gađenje prema autoritetima, mentalitetu i tradiciji pravljenja loših izbora, da kritikujem društvo kroz svoj rad i pokušam da stavim fokus na posledice naših zajedničkih nedela.
Čitavo područje bivše Jugolsavije je iskusilo traumu u kojoj se socijalističko društvo, gde je pluralnost interesa kontrolisana putem političkog monopola vladajuće Komunističke partije, urušilo i prošlo kroz nasilno usitnjavanje, bazirano na primitivnoj nacionalističkoj agendi. Formalno, rat je okončan 1995. godine. Te iste godine je, u gradu po imenu Srebrenica, više od 8000 nevinih ljudi, mahom muškaraca i dečaka, ubijeno iz jednog jedinog razloga – bili su Muslimani. Iako je 22. novembra 2017. godine glavnog aktera, takozvanog „Bosanskog kasapina“, Međunarodni sud za ratne zločine osudio na doživotnu kaznu 22 godine nakon genocida, ne mislim da je pravda zadovoljena, s obzirom na to da građani nisu svesni svoje uloge u toj opasnoj, krvavoj igri, pa makar i bili tek pasivni posmatrači, baš kao što je to bila i „mirovna misija Ujedinjenih nacija“. Uzevši to u obzir, očito je kako i zašto bes, ljutnja i tuga kuljaju kroz moje radove (kao što su „Etnički čisto platno“, „Minimalni konsenzus“, „Mi smo umorni“, „Dve perspektive“, i drugi)456789.
Moja porodica i ja smo radili na tome da postanemo Kanađani u periodu od 2007. do 5. oktobra 2015. godine. A kako su opšti izbori bili raspisani za 18. oktobar, uz ključno pitanje: „da li treba dozvoliti ženama da učestvuju na ceremoniji dodele državljanstva, polože zakletvu i postanu državljanke Kanade dok nose feredžu?“, morala sam da se pojavim na ceremoniji noseći nikab. Ovo je Kanada; nisam došla ovde čak iz Bosne da bi mi govorili šta smem, a šta ne smem da nosim10!
Od tada smo preživeli pošast Covid-a i iskusili nova i prilično suprotna pravila, novi talas orvelovskog dvosmislenog jezika i represije, nova ograničenja i novu demonstraciju državne moći, koja ovog puta propisuje pokrivanje lica11! Čini se da se svi problemi za koje sam mislila da su ostali iza mene pojavljuju u mom novom okruženju; da pitanja kolektivnog i kulturološkog identiteta i isključivosti dobijaju na snazi, dok se građanske slobode, individualna odgovornost, kultura dijaloga i principi otvorenog društva, koje smo uzimali zdravo za gotovo, moraju energično braniti. Postoji neka neprijatna tema, breme prošlosti negovano u istoriji svake nacije, o kojoj bismo radije izbegli da razmišljamo1213141516.
Iako sam oduvek imala kritički stav prema svome okruženju, kad je reč o stvaranju umetnosti sklona sam mišljenju da je određena doza satire neizbežna, možda čak i lekovita1718192021. Moj rad nikad nije isti, ni po tehnici, stilu, ni temi, ali je uvek o iskrenom sučeljavanju sa problemima koji izazivaju moju pažnju i izlaganju tog sučeljavanja publici22232425262728.
Tekst je napisan u saradnji sa Dejanom Vasićem (2022).
1Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Ja sam Anartist“, 2018.9Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Umorni smo“, 2021.
13Link: kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/en/programmes_projects/image_and_space/detail/northeast_southwest.html.
14Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Hajde da se izgubimo“, 2020.
19Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Podsećanje“, 2021.
21Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Usevi“, 2021.
24Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Kanadski život“, 2012.
27Ilustracija: Darija S. Radaković, „Perpetuum Mobile“, 2021.
