The exhibition Herbarium by artist Ismar Čirkinagić marked the first presentation of this body of work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Presented at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, the project explored traditional methods of creating an herbarium through plants collected from mass grave sites around Prijedor, a region profoundly marked by the violence of the Bosnian War.
Originally from Prijedor, Čirkinagić began working on this iteration of Herbarium in April 2022, producing 70 unique works specifically for the exhibition. Opening thirty years after the beginning of the war and decades after the artist was forced to leave his hometown, the project reflected on the enduring presence of violence, memory, absence, and unresolved histories within contemporary Bosnian society.
Herbarium created a space for reflection on memory, loss, and the long-term consequences of war, while confronting the complex relationship between landscape, violence, and remembrance in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As Čirkinagić noted:
“Thirty years is not a little time. We are still living in the war in many ways. There are still traces of the war around us; we are still looking for bodies of missing people, discussing certain topics. There is, again, a new cycle of nationalism. We obviously didn’t leave those demons from the past behind.”
The exhibition was presented by VII Academy in collaboration with Kuma International, the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Festival MESS, Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Danish Arts Council.