"I am... a woman from mahala
JASNA TASO | Arts, Activism and Social Justice Summer School | Urban Word Collective | Global | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
I decided to paint the old Sarajevo mahala where I grew up and where I still live. This neighborhood is located in the old part of the city, which was founded in the 16th century during the Ottoman Empire, which then governed Bosnia and Herzegovina. These Sarajevo mahals are full of soul, love, and care for neighbors despite their religion or nationality and other living beings that live there in harmony. The streets are narrow, and the houses are low with balconies that almost cover the street. In winter, children sled down these steep streets and make snowmen. I remember doing it as a child in my mahala. Every house and family that lived in the mahala had its own garden full of roses with tables and chairs for uninvited guests to stop by. I think that the mahala has always been a part of my identity, and as architecturally specific as this Sarajevo housing construction from ancient times is, it has an even greater importance in the socialization of the people of Sarajevo.
In October 2023, an exhibition was held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dobrivoj Beljkašić, an artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who fled to Bristol in the early 1990s due to the war raging in Sarajevo and the rest of the country. The exhibition was realized in the art museum Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I often hang out with my peers at additional activities for us senior citizens. The museum educator who works with the museum audience organized an additional activity for us where we were guided through the exhibition "Painter of Restless Imagination, Dobrivoje Beljkašić, 1923-2023" with active participation in the discussion about the works. Through works in which the artist depicted the Sarajevo bridges, and the sacred architecture of this multi-ethnic city with a multi-layered cultural history, we talked about our upbringing in pre-war Sarajevo. For the creative task, we were given by the educator to illustrate the areas of the city, buildings, or people that symbolize our growing up in this city and the way in which the city, its environment, and people shaped our identity.
