DRAGANA JURISIC – YU: THE LOST COUNTRY
2013-10-21This series of photographs are the outcome of Dragana Jurisic’s journey around the former Yugoslavia, retracing the route of an extraordinary expedition made by Anglo Irish writer Rebecca West in 1937 written about in the acclaimed book Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941). The final images capture unexpected and often uncanny parallels to West’s text and delve into the artist’s understanding of her own history.
At the centre of Dragana Jurisic’s project lies the extraordinary travel book Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, written by Anglo Irish writer Rebecca West in 1937, charting her journey through Yugoslavia. The resulting work, initially intended as a snap book, spiralled into half a million words, and became a portrait not just of Yugoslavia, but of Europe on the brink of the Second World War.
West thought of Yugoslavia as her motherland. By its very nature Yugoslavia was a land of displaced peoples and this was a fate that Rebecca West shared. Born to an Anglo-Irish family, she never felt like she truly belonged anywhere. “In any class I feel at home, and I am never accepted, because of the traces I bear of my other origins.” West said that she could only remember things if she was able to write them down and consequently wrote half a million words about a country she knew was to become a memory, in order not to forget anything about it, and to preserve this memory for millions of Yugoslavs who now live in exile. She thought of art as re-living of experience.
Exhibition runs through to December 20th, 2013
Belfast Exposed Photography
The Exchange Place
23 Donegall Street
BT1 2FF
Belfast
Northern Ireland
