Đorđe Balmazović (ŠKART)​

1965, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now Serbia, lives in Ljubljana and Belgrade

Maps, 2013 - 2015

drawing on paper transferred on canvas

Z dovoljenjem avtorja

The Maps were made in collaboration with the Belgrade Group 484 between 2013 and 2015 in various asylum centers in Serbia, and were first exhibited at the Museum of African Art in Belgrade in September 2015.

In 2013, Group 484 invited several associate artists to work with asylum seekers in an asylum center near the village of Bogovađa near Valjevo. At the time, the number of migrants passing through Serbia was not nearly as large as it is today, and the issue was neither visible nor topical. In Bogovađa there were people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Guinea, Senegal, Syria... resting in the asylum center after their difficult journey. They had reached the center by reporting to the police station upon entering Serbia illegally and expressing their intention to seek asylum.

In our work we primarily did not want to perceive migrants as victims, through the prism of humanitarian paternalism, which is often the case in art projects, but as courageous people who, in the very act of setting out on such a journey and fleeing from wars, conflict and poverty made a radical change in their life. We were interested when, how and where they had been travelling. We asked them why they had embarked on such a journey, what troubles they had survived, how they had crossed borders, how much they had paid the smugglers, about their experiences with the police and with people of the countries they had passed through.

We sketched the answers in the form of maps, in order to piece together their routes, which in some cases lasted up to 7 years. Sometimes the maps lack details, are unclear, or skip parts of the journey. We wanted to avoid pathos and representations of their suffering. We wanted to show their journeys only through facts, to draw attention to the lack of a humane asylum policy in Europe, something particularly evident in the past few months of this dramatic, emotionally-charged situation, when racism and ethno-nationalism in “Christian Europe” have been escalating.

Today, more than ever it is necessary to pose critical questions about the current geopolitical situation in Europe and the changes this situation brings, changes that will have a major impact on our future. The museum is no exception; in fact, a museum as a common space where specific knowledge is created also becomes the space of active reflection, which may not only emancipate people, but also affirm perhaps somewhat certain forgotten ideals central to solidarity and humanity.