Intervju vodio: Igor Belopavlović
SRPSKI
Ono što u mojoj glavi izdvaja našu majsku sagovornicu od drugih autora i autorki, jeste način na koji uspeva da pomiri širok dijapazon tema, gde zalazi u skrivene uglove društvenih, pa i globalnih problema (o kojima jednostavno ne možete, a da nemate mišljenje), sa njenim neostrašćenim, skoro analitičkim pristupom tim temama (da ne kažem Hladna kao led), čak i kada se dotiču intimnih (često i strašnih) detalja iz njenog privatnog života.
Grafička dizajnerka, predavač, i najpoznatija kao autorka višestruko nagrađivanih i prevođenih dela Hladna kao led, Otadžbina, Bezimena, Tarot – Nina Bunjevac.
Govorili ste o tome da Vam, do Tarota, nije bilo prijatno pisati na engleskom jer to nije Vaš maternji jezik. S druge strane, nijedno vaše delo nije ni u originalu bilo napisano na srpskom jeziku, niti ste ih prevodili za naše tržište. Uprkos tome, odlučili ste da svoje treće delo nazovete Bezimena i taj naslov je korišćen na svim jezicima. Ono o čemu bih prvo želeo da saznam više tiče se Vašeg odnosa prema jeziku i rečima, da li mislite da oni pružaju dodatni sloj značenja Vašim delima ili su reči možda suvišne po Vašem mišljenju, pa težite ka, takozvanom, stilu nemog stripa?
Moj odnos prema jeziku proističe iz mog iskustva povratka u Kanadu nakon četrnaest godina života u Jugoslaviji i prelaska sa jednog jezika na drugi, što je za mene bilo traumatično iskustvo. Dok sam bila dete i tinejdžerka, želela sam da se bavim pisanjem, vodila sam dnevnik i pisala lošu poeziju. Kada sam se našla u Kanadi, sa šesnaest godina, moje jezičke sposobnosti su bile samo na osnovnom nivou. Na primer, otkrila sam da nisam u stanju da razumem časove u umetničkoj školi, osim kada su vizuelni i praktični; nisam bila u stanju da izrazim svoje ideje u pisanom obliku. To je ono što me je u početku privuklo mediju stripa, jer sam mogla da nadoknadim taj nedostatak jezičkih sposobnosti. Jer, sasvim sam svesna činjenice da, koliko god da radim na mom engleskom, nikada neću vladati njime toliko dobro poput nekoga kome je to maternji jezik, a i da je moje poznavanje srpskog na nivou desetogodišnjaka.
Uprkos tome, ne mislim da su reči suvišne. Po mom skromnom mišljenju, ključ izvrsnog dela sekvencijalne umetnosti, bilo stripa ili grafičkog romana, nalazi se u pronalaženju savršene ravnoteže između vizuelnih i pisanih komponenti. Mogu se dopunjavati međusobno ili se ponekad i preklapati. A tu su i pauze, kako vizuelne tako i narativne. One su jednako važne koliko i reči i slike.
Pojmovi strip, roman i, najčešće, grafički roman korišćeni su za opisivanje Vaših dela (možda je grafički roman najtačniji od ta tri), pa me zanima da li ta tri pojma za vas predstavljaju prepoznatljive podvrste umetnosti ili ih Vi smatrate samo nebitnim etiketama?
Pa, verujem da postoje jasne razlike između stripova i grafičkih romana, ne samo tehnički gledano, već i filozofski. Nijedan od ovih termina još nije jasno definisan, jer je grafički roman tako mlad medij, ali pokušaću da objasnim ono što mislim da je nezvanični konsenzus.
Najjednostavnije rečeno, ono što smatramo „grafičkim romanom” je nešto poput starijeg rođaka stripa, koji je išao na fakultet, konzumirao LSD i vratio se potpuno transformisan. On ili ona počinje da govori o nečemu što niko ranije nije primetio ili o nečemu što su svi ranije ignorisali. Osoba krši pravila, eksperimentiše. Uopšteno govoreći, ako je sekvencu napisalo više osoba i ako je prilagođena mejnstrim ukusima, nazivamo je stripom; ako su autor i ilustrator ista osoba ili isti tim, i ako je prilagođen nišnoj publici i štampan u obliku knjige, to je grafički roman.
Vaš stil pisanja, kako vreme prolazi, postaje sve manje narativan po prirodi, a sve više poetičan, pa sam se pitao da li biste u budućnosti mogli da zamislite da može da postoji novi podtip – grafička knjiga poezije? (a Vaš Tarot se možda već računa kao jedan od prvih takvih naslova)
Oh, ja mislim da su mogućnosti za medij sekvencijalne umetnosti ili oblik stripa ogromne. Poeziju u stripovima već vidimo kod nezavisnih stvaralaca stripova, poput kanadskih crtača Majkla Defordža i Džesija Džejkobsa. Njihov rad je čista vizuelna i pisana poezija. Mnogi umetnici sa srpske scene andergraund stripa stvarali su poeziju kroz strip: Ana Erlemark, Radovan Popović, Danijel Savović, Danilo Milošev Vostok, Aleksandar Opačić. U Hrvatskoj imamo Ivanu Armanini, Ivanu Pipal i Dunju Janković. Balkanska scena andergraund stripa iznedrila je ogroman talenat – samo sam zagrebala površinu pomenuvši ovih nekoliko imena.
U intervjuima koje ste dali pre objavljivanja Vaših radova, može se primetiti da se gotovo delo dosta razlikuje od Vaše početne ideje. Stoga me zanima kada, tj. kako odlučujete da je određeno delo završeno? Ili smatrate da je gotovo kada istekne rok koji je izdavač odredio?
Još jedno odlično pitanje. Hvala! To je uglavnom nekakav unutrašnji osećaj, koji se obično javi negde na sredini knjige. Imam običaj da knjigu započnem od sredine, pa tek onda da joj stvorim početak. Negde na polovini početnog dela mi se obično ukaže kraj. Pomisao da imam određeni rok pomogne da ubrza proces pri samom kraju.
Da li ste uspostavili konkretan postupak pisanja i crtanja/slikanja, jer, sudeći prema Vašim opisima nastanka grafičkog romana, to zvuči kao zaista fizički zahtevan posao koji se sastoji od nekoliko stotina dana uzastopnog rada?
Svaka knjiga započinje idejom koja se može ukazati u obliku vizuelne sekvence ili u obliku opšteg koncepta dela. Prva faza se sastoji iz istraživanja i svakodnevne rutine automatskog pisanja i crtanja. U tom trenutku, projekat u potpunosti obrađuje desna strana mozga. Delići nastali automatskim pisanjem i crtanjem se zatim sastavljaju i predaju levoj strani mozga na uređivanje; sledeća faza uključuje uređivanje ovog materijala i stvaranje gotove sekvence od oko tri do dvanaest stranica. Dok prelazim stranice mastilom, što traje otprilike trideset sati po strani, počinje da se rađa ideja za sledeću sekvencu. Zatim se ceo postupak ponavlja za naredne stranice.
Obično, u momentu kada imam tridesetak stranica, otvorim novi fajl u InDizajnu (softveru koji se koristi za dizajniranje i izradu knjiga spremnih za štampu) gde formiram knjigu, sa koricama, početnom i završnom stranicom, ceo paket. Dok radim, gotove skenirane stranice stavljam u fajl, ne nužno linearno. Otprilike tri meseca pre završetka knjiga više liči na slagalicu, nego na bilo šta drugo. Svuda bude praznih mesta, a bude i mnogo uređivanja, premeštanja ili uklanjanja ili umetanja novih stranica. Iako imam običaj da radim dugo u toku dana, poslednja tri meseca su obično najteža, jer je posao većinski fizički i sastoji se od dugih perioda bilo crtanja ili rada na računaru.
Možete li nam reći nešto više o svom predavačkom radu?
Odustala sam od pozicije predavača crtanja na fakultetu za animaciju 2009. godine, zbog osećaja da, osim svojih crtačkih i slikarskih sposobnosti, zaista nisam imala šta drugo da ponudim. Osećala sam da još nisam dostigla svoj kreativni potencijal i tad sam tek počela da stvaram kratke stripove. Osećala sam da bih, samo kada bih u potpunosti realizovala svoj potencijal, stekla nešto značajnije što bih mogla ponuditi svojim budućim studentima. Tada sam se u potpunosti posvetila stvaranju stripova ili grafičkih romana. U međuvremenu sam počela da primećujem da medij stripa nekima nudi značajne šanse za izlečenje od traume ili bolne prošlosti. To se i meni baš desilo.
Od septembra prošle godine, mentorka sam jednoj studentkinji, preko Škole za vizuelne umetnosti u Njujorku, kroz projekat njene magistarske teze. Projekat je horor priča, inspirisana ličnom traumom. Nismo se vodile tradicionalnim formatom izrade priče, već smo slike i deliće priče izvukle iz nesvesnog dela uma, uz pomoć snova i različitih vežbi korišćenja aktivne mašte. Uključili smo ideje C. G. Junga i Džozefa Kembela, najviše naglašavajući simboliku i mitologiju, kako ličnu tako i kolektivnu. Videti kako moja studentkinja proizvodi delo ogromne lepote izvlačeći inspiraciju iz traume, pruža novi nivo značenja mom životu. Volela bih da na kraju počnem da se bavim mentorstvom primarno, i idealno bi mi bilo da to radim u Srbiji.
Kao neko ko često govori o ulozi i malih i velikih izdavača, i o zakonima koji se tiču cena knjiga, možete li našim čitaocima reći više o svim preprekama sa kojima se autor susreće u trenutnom svetu izdavaštva? Koje promene biste želeli da vidite na tom polju? (u Kanadi, SAD, Srbiji)?
Haha! Baš ste temeljno istražili!
Na početku ću vam reći da, zvanično, autori u Kanadi, uključujući grafičke pisce, žive poprilično ispod granice siromaštva, kao što verujem da je to slučaj i u SAD. U Severnoj Americi knjige nisu zaštićene i kao rezultat toga prodaju se na isti način kao i cipele ili tašne. Ovde je izdavačka industrija u velikoj meri zastranila od objavljivanja jedinstvenih individualnih glasova, i pre se vodi masovnim mišljenjem, „onim što se prodaje” ili „ne prodaje”, i gleda kroz objektiv marketinškog odeljenja. Stoga, po prirodi korporativnog preuzimanja, veliki izdavači gutaju male izdavače, a ono što proizilazi iz toga je da glasovi pojedinaca nestaju, a knjige koje su napisale televizijske rijaliti zvezde nalaze se na listama najprodavanijih knjiga; jer, kada ste korporacija, vaš glavni cilj je novčana dobit.
U suštini, smatram da je velika greška mešati izdavaštvo knjiga koje spada u domene kulture sa popularnom kulturom, koja zapravo pripada sferi marketinga, dakle u ekonomskom sektoru. Stoga, da, problemi izdavačkog sveta se nalaze u osnovi sistema i mnogostruki su. U srži svega, sve što sprovodimo je samo privremeno rešenje, osim ako ne rešimo te osnovne probleme: prepoznavanjem knjiga kao egzistencijalnom i kulturnom potrebom, zaštitom sektora izdavačke industrije od korporativnih preuzimanja i sprovođenjem i negovanjem odgovornog stvaralaštva i izdavaštva. Takođe, ne bi škodilo kada bismo se svi bavili odgovornim konzumerizmom, tako što bismo podržavali nezavisne autore i kupovali direktno od malih izdavača i knjižara.
Izdavačka industrija je nešto bolja u Evropi, posebno u Francuskoj, jednostavno zato što se kulturološki razlikuju u tome da prihvataju promene i žele da poboljšaju stare sisteme; jer za njih knjige jesu egzistencijalna potreba i tačka kulturnog ponosa.
S obzirom na to da su prošle tri godine od izlaska Vašeg stripa Bezimena (i još više vremena od početka Vašeg rada na toj ideji), kao i da je, u međuvremenu, pitanje silovanja izašlo iz medijskog mraka, da li biste nešto promenili u svom stripu ako biste ga crtali sada ili ako bi izašao nastavak?
Pa, mislim da je Bezimena sama po sebi potpuna, ali definitivno jeste deo nekakvog kontinuuma. Na jedan neobičan način, knjiga Tarot je njen nastavak, moj dar onima kojima je Bezimena bila posvećena. U pogovoru obe knjige govorim o kriminalnoj grupi koja se bavila dečjom pornografijom, kojoj sam za dlaku izmakla sa petnaest godina. Ova posebna grupa ciljala je mlade devojke koje su bile kreativne, buntovne i koje su pokazivale određene znake egzistencijalne teskobe ili rane traume. Žrtve su regrutovali tako što su se pretvarali da nude filozofske i duhovne savete. Kada bi bile uhvaćene, vođa grupe bi seksualno napastvovao te mlade žene i ceo taj proces bi bio snimljen.
Napisala sam Tarot baš za ljude tog tipa: mlade autsajdere, posebno ženske autsajdere, koje interesuju filozofija, ezoterija, umetnost, književnost, muzika, mitologija i analitička psihologija. Karte ne predviđaju budućnost, ali imaju meditativni efekat na čitaoca i nude blage savete; ako išta, knjiga podstiče ljude da odgovore traže u sebi, umesto iz drugih izvora, poput gurua ili rigidnog ideološkog ili verskog sistema. Ovo je zaista knjiga koju bih volela da sam imala kada sam imala petnaest godina. U njoj se nalazi i spisak knjiga koje su mi bile od velike pomoći, u slučaju da čitaocu očajnički zatreba zanimljivo štivo.
Da li umetnik/umetnica ima društvenu odgovornost da skrene pažnju na takve tabu-teme ili se njegovo ili njeno delovanje i dalje svodi na lične interese pojedinca?
Pa, naravno, ako umetničko delo potiče iz traume, poput seksualnog nasilja, veoma je važno taj rezultat, bilo da je to film, predstava ili strip, uključiti u kolektivni dijalog. Ovim glasovima je potreban podsticaj da izađu iz tame i uobliče se. Jedine društvene odgovornosti koje se nameću na umetnike trebalo bi da budu: stvaranje dela etično, odgovorno i imajući na umu uticaj njihovog stvaralaštva na kolektiv. U idealnom slučaju, umetnost se nikada ne sme koristiti za širenje razdora i laži. U suprotnom, umetnici bi trebalo da budu slobodni da stvaraju šta god žele, bilo da to služi većoj svrsi ili individualnim potrebama.
Vaša dela se potpuno različito tumače u Severnoj Americi, EU i na Balkanu, a različiti ljudi u njima pronalaze (ili im pripisuju) različite stvari. Kako se osećate nakon što objavite novi naslov i odjednom delo više ne pripada isključivo Vama?
Pa, kad knjiga izađe, moje delo je u etru i nema povratka. Ljudi bi trebalo da imaju slobodu da formiraju svoje mišljenje, kao i da im se knjige sviđaju ili ne sviđaju. Zbog toga se trudim da stvaram na takav način da, ako bih se osvrnula na svoje kreacije za tri decenije, ne bih se naježila i ne bih osećala kao da sam izdala sebe ili osramotila nekog drugog.
Da li mislite da ako osoba želi da bude dobar umetnik, on ili ona mora nužno biti dobra osoba? Naravno, uzimajući u obzir koliko je teško definisati šta umetnika čini dobrim, a kamoli šta čoveka čini dobrim.
Upravo je u tome stvar. Šta definiše dobru osobu? Možda mislite da ste jedan ili drugi tip osobe, a zatim – analizom ili procesom samospoznaje, čak i iznenadnih nedaća – shvatite da niste ono što ste pretpostavljali da ste bili veći deo svog života. Niko nije istinski dobar ili loš, ali poseduje jednako potencijala za oba. Ako išta, moramo biti iskreni sa svojim vlastitim destruktivnim delovima i držati ih pod kontrolom.
Moram da ponovim: idealno bi bilo da umetnik stvara etički, odgovorno, inteligentno, izražavajući svoju najdublju istinu i da se uzdrži od širenja mržnje i razdora.
Poslednje pitanje koje postavljamo svim našim sagovornicima je sledeće – da li biste mogli da preporučite čitaocima KUŠ!-a knjigu, film, predstavu, muzičku numeru i umetnika/umetničko delo na koje bi trebalo obratiti pažnju?
Podstakla bih vaše čitaoce da iskoriste ovo vreme globalne krize i okrenu se ka sebi kako bi saznali više o sebi, bilo kroz snove, bilo kroz kreativno bavljenje stvarima ili ljudima koji su im važni. Toplo bih preporučila Jungovu knjigu Čovek i njegovi simboli, koja je sveobuhvatan vodič za njegove ideje, i koja može biti korisna za razumevanje snova ili bilo čega drugog što iskoči iz maštovitog prostora. Ostale knjige koje toplo preporučujem su Čovekova potraga za smislom Viktora Frankla i Dušin kod: u potrazi za likom i pozivom Džejmsa Hilmana.
ENGLESKI
What sets our May interlocutor apart from other authors, in my head, is the way she manages to cover a wide range of topics, while diving into the hidden corners of social and even global problems (about which you simply cannot not have an opinion), with her analytical approach to these topics (almost Heartless), even when they touch on intimate (often scary) details from her private life.
Graphic designer, lecturer, and best known as the author of multiple award-winning works that have been translated into many languages – Heartless, Fatherland, Bezimena, Tarot – Nina Bunjevac.
You talked about how, until Tarot, you didn’t feel comfortable writing in English, since it’s not your mother tongue. On the other hand, none of your works were originally written in Serbian, nor did you do the translation for our market. Yet again, you decided to name your third work Bezimena, and that title was used in all languages. What I would firstly like to know more about concerns your attitude towards language and words, do you think that they provide an additional layer of meaning to your works, or are words perhaps redundant in your opinion, and you strive towards the so-called silent comic?
My attitude to language comes from my experience of moving back to Canada after 14 years of living in Yugoslavia and transitioning from one language to another, which was a traumatic experience for me. As a child and teen, I was keen on pursuing a writing career, kept a journal, and wrote bad poetry. When I found myself in Canada, at the age of sixteen, I did not have more than basic language skills. For example, I found that I could not understand lessons in art school unless they were visual and hands-on; I was unable to express my ideas in written form. This is what initially attracted me to the medium of comics, as I could compensate for the lack of language skills. Because, I am well aware, no matter how much I work at my English, I will never be as good as someone who was born into it, and my Serbian is at the level of a ten-year-old.
I still haven’t found the words redundant though. In my humble opinion, the key to an excellent work of sequential art, be it a comic, or a graphic novel is in finding a perfect balance between the visual and written components. They can be complementary, or sometimes they may overlap. And then there are pauses or visual or narrative breaks. Those are just as important as the words and images.
The terms comic, novel, and most often graphic novel were used to describe your works (graphic novel perhaps being the most accurate of the three), so I am interested in whether the three terms represent distinctive subtypes of art for you, or do you consider them to be just irrelevant labels?
Well, I do believe that there are distinct differences between comics and graphic novels, not only technically speaking, but philosophically as well. Neither of these terms has been clearly defined yet, since the graphic novel is such a young medium, but I will try to express what I understand is the unofficial consensus.
In simplest terms, what we consider a “graphic novel”, is something like the older cousin of comics, who went to university, did LSD, and came back completely transformed. He, or she, begins talking about things nobody has noticed before, or things everyone has ignored before. They break the rules, they experiment. Generally speaking, if a sequential piece is written by more than one person, and is geared to mainstream tastes, you call it a comic; if it has been authored and illustrated by the same person, or a team, is geared to niche audiences, and printed in book form, it is a graphic novel.
Your style of writing, as time passes, is becoming less and less narrative in nature, and more and more poetic, so I was wondering if in the future you could imagine that a new subtype could exist – a graphic book of poetry? (and your Tarot might already count as one of the first titles)
Oh, I think the possibilities for the medium of sequential art, or the comics form, are immense. We are already seeing the poetry in comics out there among the independent comics creators, like the Canadian cartoonists Michael Deforge and Jesse Jacobs. Their work is sheer visual and written poetry. Many of the artists among the Serbian underground comics have produced poetry through comics: Anna Ehrlemark, Radovan Popovic, Danijel Savovic, Danilo Milosev Vostok, Aleksandar Opacic. In Croatia we have Ivana Armanini, Ivana Pipal, and Dunja Jankovic. The Balkan underground comics scene has produced some immense talent – the names I mentioned here only scratch the surface.
In the interviews you gave before the publication of your works, it can be noticed that the finished work is quite different from your initial idea. Therefore, I am interested in when, i.e. how do you decide that a particular piece of work is finished? Or do you consider it to be done when the deadline that the publisher has set expires?
Another excellent question. Thank you! It’s generally an inner feeling, and it usually comes somewhere middle way through the book. I tend to start the book from the middle, then provide the beginning. Halfway through the beginning part, I usually have the end in my mind. Having a deadline helps speed up the process a bit near the end.
Have you established a concrete process of writing and drawing / painting, since judging from your descriptions of the creation of a graphic novel, it sounds like a physically demanding job that consists of a couple of hundred days of consecutive work?
Each book begins with an idea, which may come in form of a visual sequence or the general concept of the piece. The first phase involves research and daily practices in automatic writing and drawing. At this point, the project is entirely in the right brain. The bits and pieces produced by automatic writing and drawing are then assembled and handed off to the left-brain hemisphere to edit; the next phase involves editing this material and producing a finished sequence of about three to twelve pages. While inking the pages, which take approximately 30 hours each, the idea for the next sequence begins to emerge. The whole process is then repeated for the subsequent pages.
Usually, by the time I have about thirty pages, I start an InDesign file, (software used to design and produce ready-to-print books) of the book, with the cover, the endpapers, the whole deal. I place the scans of the finished pages in it as I go along, not necessarily in a linear fashion. Up to about three months before the completion, the book will resemble a puzzle more than anything. There will be empty spaces throughout, and there will be a lot of editing, shuffling, or the removal or insertion of new pages. Although I tend to work long hours, the last three months are usually the toughest, because most of the work is physical, consisting of long periods of either drawing or computer work.
Can you tell us a bit more about your work as a lecturer?
I quit my budding career in teaching drawing at an animation college in 2009, due to a feeling that, aside from my drawing and painting skills, I had little else to offer. I felt that I had not yet reached my creative potential and had just begun making short comics. It was only by realizing my potential fully, I felt, that I would gain something more substantial to give to my future students. Since then, I have been producing comics, or graphic novels, full time. In the meantime, I began to notice that the medium of comics offers great opportunities for healing from one’s trauma, or one’s painful past. This certainly was my case.
Since September of last year, I have been mentoring a thesis student, through the School of Visual Arts in New York, through her master’s thesis project. The project is a horror tale, inspired by personal trauma. We have not followed the traditional format of crafting a story but drew the images, and story bits, from the unconscious, by following dreams and different exercises in the active imagination. We incorporated the ideas of C. G. Jung, and Joseph Campbell, by placing a big emphasis on symbolism and mythology, both personal and collective. Seeing my student produce work of immense beauty out of the place of trauma adds a new level of meaning to my life. I would like to eventually transition to mentoring full-time, and ideally, in Serbia.
As someone who often talks about the role of both small and large publishers, and about the laws regarding the prices of books, can you tell our readers more about all the obstacles that the author encounters in the current world of publishing? What changes would you like to see in that field? (in Canada, USA, Serbia)?
Haha! You did your research thoroughly!
From the get-go, I will tell you that, officially, authors in Canada, including graphic novelists, live well under the poverty lines, as I believe is the case in the USA. In North America, books are not protected, and as a result, they are sold in the same fashion as shoes or handbags. Here, the publishing industry at large has greatly deviated from publishing unique individual voices to pandering to mass opinion, to “what sells” and what “does not sell”, and through the lens of the marketing department. Therefore, in the corporate takeover nature, big publishers swallow small publishers, and the next thing that happens, individual voices disappear, and books authored by the Television reality stars are on the bestselling lists; because, when you are a corporation, your prime objective is the monetary gain.
In essence, I think it is a big mistake to mix book publishing, which falls in the realms of culture, with popular culture, which falls into the realm of marketing, therefore in the economic sector. So, yeah, the problems of the publishing world are foundational, and manyfold. At the heart of it all, everything we implement is just a band-aid solution, unless we correct these fundamental issues by: Designating the books as an existential and cultural necessity, protecting the publishing industry sectors from corporate takeovers, and by practicing and fostering responsible creation and publishing. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if we all practiced responsible consumerism, by patronizing independent authors, and shopping directly from small publishers and bookshops.
The publishing industry is somewhat better in Europe, particularly France, simply because, as a culture, they are open to changing and improving on old structures; because, for them, books are an existential necessity and a point of cultural pride.
Considering that three years have passed since the release of your comic Bezimena (and even more time since the beginning of your work on that idea), as well as that, in the meantime, the issue of rape has come out of the media darkness, would you change something in your comic if you were to draw it now, or if a sequel was to come out?
Well, I think that Bezimena is whole enough on its own but is definitely a part of a continuum. In a peculiar way, my Tarot book is its sequel, my gift to those to whom Bezimena was dedicated to. In the afterword of both books, I speak about a child pornography ring I dodged at the age of 15. This particular ring targeted young girls who were creative, rebellious, and who exhibited certain signs of existential angst, or early trauma. Victims were recruited under the pretense of offering philosophical and spiritual advice. Once trapped, the young women were sexually assaulted by the ringleader, and the whole process would be filmed.
My Tarot book was created for the exact segment of the population as were the victims: Young outsiders, particularly female outsiders, with interests in philosophy, esotericism, art, literature, music, mythology, and analytic psychology. The cards do not tell the future but have a meditative effect upon the reader and offer gentle advice; if anything, the book encourages people to seeks the answers inside of themselves, as opposed to from the exterior, such as a guru, or a rigid ideological or religious system. This is really a book I wish I had at the age of fifteen. It comes with a list of books I found exceptionally helpful, should the reader be in desperate need of interesting reading material.
Does the artist have a social responsibility to draw attention to such taboo topics or do his or her actions still come down to the personal interests of the individual?
Well, naturally, if a work of art comes from a place of trauma, such as sexual violence, it is vital to include the resulting creation, be it film, a play, or a comic, into the collective dialogue. These voices need encouragement to come out of darkness and take shape. The only social responsibilities that fall upon the artists should be: To create work ethically, responsibly, and to be mindful of the impact their creations have on the collective. Ideally, the arts should never be used to spread discord and lies. Otherwise, artists should be free to create whatever they desire, whether it serves a greater purpose or individual needs.
Your works are interpreted completely differently in North America, the EU, and the Balkans, and different people find (or inscribe) different things in them. How do you feel after you publish a new title and suddenly your work no longer belongs to you solely?
Well, when the book comes out, my work is out there, and there is no turning back. People should be free to form their own opinions and like or dislike the books. This is why I try to create in such a manner that, should I look back on my creations in three decades, I would not cringe, and would not feel as if I have betrayed myself, or disgraced another.
Do you think that if a person wants to be a good artist, he or she must necessarily be a good person? Of course, taking into account how difficult it is to define what makes an artist good, let alone what makes a person good.
That’s just it. What defines a good person? You may think that you are one type of person or another, and then – through analysis, or process of self-reflection, sudden misfortunes even – you realize that you are not what you assumed to have been for most of your life. Nobody is truly good or bad but possesses equal amounts of both potentialities. If anything, we need to be honest with our individual destructive parts and keep them under control.
I must repeat: Ideally, the artist should create ethically, responsibly, intelligently, by expressing their innermost truth, and refrain from sewing hatred and discord.
The last question we pose to all our interlocutors is the following – could you recommend to the readers of KUŠ! a book, film, play, music track, and artist/ work of art, to which they should pay attention to?
I would encourage your readers to use this time of global crisis and turn inward, to learn more about themselves, either through dreams, or creative engagement with things or people that matter to them. I would highly recommend Jung’s book, Man and his symbols, which is a comprehensive guide to his ideas, and may turn useful in helping understand the dreams, or whatever pops out of the imaginal space. Other books that I highly recommend are Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and James Hillman’s The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling.
maj, 2021.
