Our scholarship holder of whom we bring the story below, is Ana Milijević, who, although she has only been with us for nearly 2 years, has proved to be an extremely diligent volunteer. Ana has participated in numerous projects of the Hastor Foundation, and has proposed and designed some of them herself. She is also a member of the Graphic Design Team, within which she performs her duties extraordinarily.
This month was special for Ana due to the participation in the April 6 Exhibition at the History Museum, which was also held online because of the new circumstances. Partaking in an event like this was a sublime feeling for her because she used her artwork to answer the question WAS IST WALTER? What is Sarajevo today?
Work description:“FIRE? ETERNAL.”
“At the beginning of my desire to give something to this city, there was a deeply intimate question about its core and what best describes it. I was overwhelmed by the swirl of different Sarajevo symbols, but I wondered if there was a symbol that was not colored by a particular nation, religion, tradition or custom, and yet still manages to unite all of the above?
It is in the human heart to conquer, that is, it is the instinct in us that reminds us that hungry animal needs lie in us that we must satisfy. For this reason, each of us wants a bit of Sarajevo for ourselves, coloring it to match our own interest, shaping it to our own liking. Aggressive, selfish, often out of place, we tear the city to shreds. We were going around, but after some strange need and passion we would stick these pieces together, each in our own way. No matter how we knew how to destroy and wreck, we would always, with the blind power of our love, find our way to unite the scattered Sarajevo.
How many times has Sarajevo been dead and reborn in such a way? What is the inexplicable power of its survival? Fire. Fire of a mom, a dad, a grandma, a grandpa, an uncle, an aunt. The hands painted on my work are the hands of them all, warmed by the Eternal Fire, that symbol that unites all the pieces of Sarajevo. The warmth of the hands is in stark contrast to the hands that do not receive the heat of Eternal Fire. These are the hands in no scream is heard of the spirit for freedom, love, commitment and constant fighting. They stay cool.
As it used to be, we continue to survive on the basis of that Fire, which is often needlessly questioned. I believe that we will forever find in it the strength to reconcile our differences, nurturing them as the core of our city.”
