Clothes for Death

This one is going to be a long one as I try and catch up…

Arrived to Zagreb, Croatia on Thursday afternoon, after an amusing flight where I sat next to two! Pilots who usually fly for Pakistan Airways, this time they were on route to Dubrovnik for a worldwide pilot conference (imagine 2000 pilots in one place, who will fly the planes then?). As they took seriously their role of explaining to me the intricacies of flying, I wasn’t sure if this newly acquired knowledge will finally liberate me from my schizophrenic relationship to flying.

In Zagreb, I checked in a nice Youth Hostel situated right next to the large and imposing chocolate factory ‘Kras’. As I was approaching the hostel, I could smell the sweet almost sickly smell of caramel in the air, and wandered if people who live here eat too much or none chocolate, as I doubt one can stay unaffected by this giant. (talking of chocolate, the mint chocolate went down a treat; maybe I should buy some Kras chocolate and bring it back to London as souvenirs)

Friday was filled with meetings. I had a chat with one of the curators of PM Gallery, an artist run space, in an unusual building, usually referred as ‘the mosque’. Its history is interesting, it was built following the plan of sculptor Ivan Mestrovic. In 1941, by a decree of the president of the Independent State of Croatia (Ante Pavelic known for its links to Nazi Germany), the House was closed and transformed into a mosque. Stucco decorations and three minarets were added following the project of the architect S. Planic. The museum of People's Liberation was founded in 1945.The minarets were pulled down in 1949. The returning of the building to the artists was requested with the exhibition called Documents-Arguments, and the request was fulfilled in 1991. The reconstruction of the building started in 2000.
For more info on the gallery and photos following the historical transformation please visit their site http://www.hdlu.hr/AboutUs.html

Had a fascinating meeting with Ethnologist at the Museum of Ethnography, Zagreb. She told me that in the early 1900 pregnant women would make a procession with their best clothes or their wedding dress before giving birth as in those days birth represented a risk, a potential death. This stayed with me, that women lived with that choice and vivid possibility of dying in order to give birth to a child. How many women gave their lives so that we as a human race continue? I almost feel uncomfortable putting it in such heroic term, but it is a form of heroism, no?!

This was followed by a nice lunch with Renata whom I met last time at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore, and who has been very supportive of my project, even faxing me some info she dug out during one of her own research trips to Sarajevo. She is a sharp writer, so I snapped up a book, co-edited by her, titled ‘Od Roda do Naroda’, translated as ‘From Gender to the Nation’, which sounds really interesting. I also snapped up a book ‘Ethnology of Proximity: Poetics and Politics of Contemporary Fieldwork’, which I hope will be helpful in terms of research and fieldwork that is ahead of me. The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore is a brilliant snazzy organisation publishing timely and reflexive research on the contemporary societal matters. http://www.ief.hr/

I wanted to see a few more galleries, and as they are open until 8pm! I was able to visit gallery Miroslav Kraljevic, who was showing work by a young artist from Turkey Ahmet Ogut. Curious work, exploring masculity or rather the impossibility of masculity – especially in a video piece ‘The Death Kit Train” where a large group of man are pushing a car, or rather few man are pushing a car and the rest of them are pushing those which are pushing the car. www.g-mk.hr

Another space worth checking out is Nano Gallery, which is hidden inside an archway but central enough to be found. It is a small space currently showing contemporary art projects, which are existing solely on the internet, their web page is www.artenativa.hr/reload.htm
I ended up talking with the gallery assistant and it transpired that she also lived in London in the early 1990’s. We started chatting more and really got on, ended up being joined by one of her friends and going for a drink in the nearby bar. Both of them were disillusioned by the current situation in Croatia and felt that the nationalism and provincialism were still very present. She regretted that she came back from London, and I almost felt a tinge of guilt for having stayed in London. We had a thoroughly good chat about everything including the Croatian Venice Biennale scandal – having changed their mind at the last minute about whom they want to represent Croatia. (first it was going to be David Maljkovic but then under shady circumstances it was decided that it will be artist Ivana Franke). I am not aware of their work, so will look them both up!

I should just add another great space which I managed to visit, it is Nova Gallery ran by a very interesting curatorial group WHW (What, How & for Whom) which were showing an exhibition temporary services motherfuckers www.temporaryservices.org + some info about WHW http://www.projekt-relations.de/de/explore/zagreb/veranstaltung.php

All this in one day and I was ready for a trip towards my sweet, sickly chocolate factory.

The following day I had enough time to meet with Dona, whom I met last Autumn. She is an Anthropologist writing an MA thesis on Sefardic Jewish women who came as refugees from Sarajevo to Zagreb, in the ‘last war’, and who live in the home for elderly people. When we met last year, we talked about possibly working together, if it transpires that the women she is in contact with have prepared such clothes and of course if they are willing to take part. Dona updated me that she spoke with the caretaker who will find out and who will this week get back to Dona if and when it will be possible to interview and photograph the women. She also explained that the Care home has taken upon itself to make special white gowns and white scarves for those women who express a wish in being buried in that way. She will find out who sews them and perhaps there is more to it…So, I should know this week if I will be going to Zagreb for a few days.

One month does not feel enough for all the research I want to do.

Thought I'd write a bit of a background to the project. The whole idea for it came whilst I was filming for my other project Radionica. One of the women I filmed said that her mother travelled “all the way” to Zagreb to choose an outfit in which she will be buried. Intrigued, I set out to research it further and it has slowly revealed itself to be a custom that still some (and mostly) women are practicing. I knew that project will be a challenge on so many levels, finding participants, then filming them and photographing such intimate belongings and many more…But I guess it is the challenge that makes it so enticing and an inner need to further explore what is behind the idea. The whole project for me is about intimately engaging with lives of women whose identities have been shaped by turbulent historical, political and cultural currents. The ritual in a way serves as a form of a window into exploring questions related to social and cultural construction of death and dying and through that questioning our relationship to living.
The project is also in some respect a continuation of Graduation Dresses series of photographs, whereby I photograph young women in their personal spaces wearing their graduation dresses, all of which have been made by my mother (who runs a sewing business from her flat in Bosnia) and all the dresses are based on an image of a dress from haute couture designer or a celebrity.
During my first journey in Autumn 2006, I met, recorded interviews and photographed eleven women and the clothes in which they wish to be buried. One of the women I photographed is shown in the previous post, Liza from Donja Vrba, a small village next to Slavonski Brod, in Croatia (where I was born).
I will write more on the previous reasearch trip another time as my mind is firmly fixed on tomorrow's or rather today's journey. In the last week I have been buying some touristy presents in one of those touristy shops on Oxford street. My cousin in Croatia last time advised me that it would be nice if I could get a small something to give as a present to women I photograph (apart from the coffee and a sweet which I usually bring), like the fridge magnets or after eight mints. So, I just can't resist but upload an image from one of the fridge magnets I bought, true piece of London, and of course via China! Then I also bought some Earl Grey tea, and that is also from China. What about dark chocolate and mint combination?

I am not ready to go. I said this to a friend today, when she asked me about my impending trip on Thursday morning. I realised that ever since I came to the UK (in 1992) that this has been the shortest distance between my journeys to Croatia & Bosnia – it has been four months since my last visit. I don't miss IT and I don't feel nostalgic. My friend said it is more real in this way, and it rang true allthough I can't quite put it into words. So, what happens when the cloud of nostalgia disappears, are we left with 'just' a country, without the mystic or nostalgic or mythical air that we insert into those spaces and places. Even though I am going for a specific project, I am still going 'back home'. And being back is part of the dialogue, with the land, with the people I meet, with the culture and with the space I will inhabit for a bit more then a month. My equipment is ready, my camera packed, films bought, and yet I don't feel ready for exposure.