“Uplifting slogans and beautiful messages might stir the soul, but if they weren’t accompanied by moral power, they amounted to no more than a litany of empty words.”

Haruki Murakami – Novelist as a Vocation

It´s been 17 months since my last newsletter and I have been postponing to the point where I no longer believe that I will write it at all.  I had a feeling that I would just wipe my presence out on the World Wide Web. I felt like one of those survivors occasionally appearing on CNN when some horrible calamity happens. Looking good on the outside, deeply broken on the inside. My title would be “Ithaca/Cornell Survivor”. Compared to the Americas (there are so many Americas in the States), Covid was fantastic. This technocratic, military, self-centered grind culture robbed me of my basic beliefs. As an atheist I only believe in people, the ability to do selflessly good, to care about themselves and others, and this Creation. I am not naïve. I don´t believe that all people have this attribute, but brother, what I’ve seen and heard crushed me to a pulp. After returning home I felt like my insides were filled with the darkest of darkness, a black goo of the poisonous pus. All the beautiful energy of Japan that I have been tapping into since 2016 when we lived there, completely withered. I was stripped of hope when I saw this unleashed beast that devoured everything, even itself , for the shine on the gold. I couldn´t restore myself, because every action looked futile and pointless. Some friends, who experienced or know communist and totalitarian regimes, would say that Americas is basically Russia with an illusion of choice. The rest of us, who know of the benefits of social-democratic systems, would say that Americas is the 4^th world country and should have the UN troops deployed and have the international community provide humanitarian help until healthcare, public transport, rule of law, and economy have been restored and all warmongers rehabilitate or are put behind the bars. To support this idea, let me recommend the book by Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, which addresses America’s problems the same way as if it was just another “third world country” in the post-war, post-natural disaster state. Unfortunately, it finishes in the American affirmative way with misplaced hope in the “Occupy” movement.

The first step to recovery was a huge one for me, and I had to accept that I no longer wish to paint flowers but rather reflect on America and the cancers that it has been spreading globally. I started to develop a shadow, after years of developing my personas. Now to the good stuff.

I applied and got the status of a prominent independent artist of the Sarajevo Canton. After that, I finished official chef training. I did this because wherever we traveled or even stayed home, I would cook for everyone. For example, once we had a home visit for dinner with over 20 students from Japan and in Americas I organized the First of May – Workers Day – a celebration for over 40 students from the ex-Yu region who were studying at Cornell at the time. Ex-professors of Slavic languages and families who lived in Ithaca all came to this event. We were serving beans stew, ćevapi, and crapes (donations of good French neighbors in Hasbrouck). My second chef was Mario (que uvas) from Guatemala, who was BBQing ćevapi like a pro. After getting certified as a chef I helped a neighbor to start a small national restaurant in Sarajevo that allowed me to learn how to prepare national dishes. And then the final step in my soul restoration happened. I was invited to join my friends Mario and Giorgio of ARCI Chieti and Tanja, Brane, and a whole gang of ZdravoDaSte Banja Luka for their workshops project “Artistic Expression to facilitate youth inclusion processes Erasmus+ Youth – Youth Exchange, Banja Luka”. I could only join them for 3 days, but for 3 days I was surrounded by THE friends who try to make a difference, in their fields of work, in their surroundings, neighborhood, locally and internationally. I was at the 25^th birthday party of the Center for Environment, realizing that I have been indirectly connected to them for 20 years, 15 as a friend.  I saw so many friends who were having newborns or firstborns, I saw friends who continued to do good even if it meant more struggle in their lives. Emotions of unconditional love, respect, and faith in a better tomorrow were poured back inside me like a mother´s milk. I was able to restore different fragments of my psyche through the countless coffees I had with all of them.

And then ARTE stole the photo from me

For those of you who have no connection to Europe, ARTE is German-French art related TV channel and it is absolutely fantastic. Please, check their Passengers by ARTE Concerts – “The best of contemporary artists performing in unique and unusual venues”.

It has been brought to my attention that one of my murals was featured in a commissioned short documentary for ARTE – Making History Hokusai: The Great Wave.

Two friends of mine, one from Slovenia and another one from Switzerland, informed me that my (No. 11) Ceci n’est pas un Magritte or the Great Wave of Verviers, Belgium has been featured as an example in the above-mentioned documentary.

Although I am quite flattered by the fact that my work has been used, I am also very disappointed with the fact that the photo used in editing came from my website where I share my material under a Creative Commons 3.0 license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported). Even more so, no one has ever even tried to contact me and ask me for permission to use my photo for commercial use or at least inform me of its usage. The least one could have done was to credit my work. Absurdly the video is not available in my country.

Based on the still from the video, I am sure that the photo is mine.

And now for the good stuff

Throughout all this time, I had an open and constant invitation from my friend, Amer Hadžić, to come and join him at Arka – Art & Education Center. Come paint, come write projects with us, do workshops, just come. So, I started writing projects and I started looking for a way to join him and started working on my new series of paintings. Luckily, my painting project got picked and partially co-funded through the public call for proposing cultural projects for co-financing from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton for the year 2024. And I joined a small startup in Sarajevo, Isaac Code, which is developing this fantastic system for farmers called Cow Gazer. It helps manage open-field breed herds of cattle.

I am writing this from the gallery and the workshop space of Arka, my daytime studio, with rediscovered energy to write, connect, and paint again. I plan to work hard as if it is the end of the day.

Now, with all the positive energy I would like to shout out to people and friends in the Americas who helped my family and me to overcome and have meaningful and somewhat fruitful and joyful 11 months:

To Bruno Ladan, another aniki I didn´t know I have, who, together with Adam Strom, Sandy Smith Garces, Sam and Max Strom (Adam´s family), and teta Rajka i čika Radomir in Lynn, made our time in the Boston area the fondest memory of the States.

To Barbara and Jerry Nosanchuk, our forever family in Ithaca, to whom we owe so much, and who inspire us to be even better people. Larisa and I have one wish, to become Barbara and Jerry as we grow old. To their son Josh and their daughter Sara (and son-in-law Eric who visited us in Sarajevo this year) for the short but good times we had. To Tetka Tanja and Isak of Utica, another family member in upstate NY. To Krisztina, Bella Ed, Shumba (and you too Jebediah) another backbone in Ithaca to our family. To Karin and Chris Sperry, for beautiful moments in their garden where we were introduced to birding. To Lexi and David for everything and special thanks for opening the world of Unstable Unicorns for us. To Saida Hodžić who found time to have us during the hard times for her family. To Nina Bionda for good times around the pool. To Matt and Trevor, basketball dads of Belle Sherman school, and their families for making us feel welcomed and accepted.

To our neighbors in Hasbrouck: to Chitra, Petar, Filip; to Alejandra, Mario, Hab, and Martin; to Nayaradzo, Stephen, Ati, and Ngoni; to Favour and Femi; to Shan and Kasim; to Marta and Debra; to Serap, Husein, Ahmed & Omer.

To Hasbrouck´s people Julie, Sandy, Kim, Arpita, Brooke, Ibrahim, Madhav (and Femi and Shan for the second time).

To Julie Ficarra, Patricia Young, and Angelika Kraemer for making us feel welcome in the university fortress.

To my Art Family in Ithaca: Leslie Ihde, Charlotte Ghiorse, Domenica Brockman, Lindsey Glover, and Marina Delaney without whom I would probably go mental.

To Robin Tropper-Herbel at the CSMA and the people of the State of the Art Gallery, especially to Daniel McPheeters and Ed Brothers. To Caleb of the Ithaca Murals. And Grant(iste).

To my people of Novick´s Cafe – Ben, Joe, and Mathew, keep that coffee flowing.

To Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County, Tompkins County Public Library, GO Ithaca, Autumn Leaves Used Books, and Angry Mom Records, without whom life in Ithaca would not be possible.

To our friends in NYC, Lara, Almir, and Jaron. To family Čekić – Senada, Rafet, Admir, and Samra for taking care of us as their own.  To Tim and Chris in Brooklyn, and one big thanks to Tim for taking the time to bring his mom to the exhibition. To brother Amir Husak for trying to keep it real.

To Kelly, Michael, Owen, Ada, and their dog Murphy- our beloved family in Richmond. To Paula and Steve- our admired family in Williamsburg. And to Aida, Ayla, and Rick- our precious family in Falls Church.

To dearest Frida and JR and their piece of heaven in Pennsylvania.

If I haven’t mentioned someone that is because I just had to stop or this would become one of those Fidel Castro speeches.

In the sweet voice of Jack Killian
good night America… wherever you are

p.S For those who bothered to read this email/newsletter ´till the end I want to thank you, and if you had a dream of the Americas, you can find it still here, in music…