Although Mostar, like many other towns with highly developed street art, is affectionately called the Berlin of the Balkans in order to attract cultural tourists and urban explorers, town in Bosnia and Herzegovina which resides on Neretva river is much more than German metropolis. A multicultural pearl, an authentic colorful interwoven carpet of languages and identities that strive to coexist in their diversity.
During the Balkan wars, Mostar experienced destruction unprecedented since the world wars. A picturesque icon of Ottoman architecture, the Old Bridge over the turquoise Neretva river was demolished as a casualty of the war. It was restored a decade after its destruction by traditional construction processes under UNESCO and entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.
It became a symbol of peace and reconciliation between conflicting nations, three ethnic communities, Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs. The Balkan War destroyed the city’s architectural and social fabric, and even after thirty years the local community is still recovering emotionally, architecturally, politically, economically. Although parts of Mostar have been rebuilt, dangerous ruins and war destruction are still evident throughout the city.
While Mostar still has a long way to go to recover from its tragic past, its Street Art Festival plays an important role in the process of rebuilding the community, especially among the younger generations.
– We want to offer a different picture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We want to show that there are people in this country who do not live in the past and that despite everything that happened, we try to work on ourselves and focus on the future, the organizers say.
Street Art Festival Mostar as a social movement
A team of six girls (Marina Đapić, Saira Gilić, Sabina Maslo, Iris Ivković, Maja Rubinić, Karla Ćosić) and one young man (Tomislav Klišanin) from the Association for the Promotion of Urban Culture, Contemporary and Public Art Rezon describes its activism as a multicultural urban art initiative.
The beginnings go back to 2012 as an attempt to activate and unite young artists who wanted to bring more positivity to a divided city. In ten years, with the support of Municipality of Mostar, other partners and citizens, they have created an internationally recognized platform for street art. They became an engaged social movement that connects artists from all over the world with its inspiring energy and constantly transforms the streets of Mostar.
In addition to creating impressive murals, the Street Art Festival also features accompanying cultural program for all generations. Street performances, circus and puppet shows for the youngest, concert events, art workshops and exhibitions, as well as other numerous opportunities for developing residents’ relationships with the town and art in public space.
Among the particularly interesting events, we highlight the tradition of drinking coffee and listening to sevdah performers, as well as last year’s spectacular opening of the Festival, with the first 3D-mapping of the Old Bridge.
Mostar’s street art is becoming an important part of town’s visual scenery year after year, reviving abandoned spaces and ruins and giving the town an unique visual identity. Local organizers are doing exactly that – crossing political divisions with art and using it as a “bridge” – unifying and connecting component in the creation of a towns’ new identity.
The skeleton of a former bank in the center of Mostar
The mural and graffiti art locations are quite close, so visitors can easily walk between them, getting to know the real Mostar, beyond the photogenic touristic Old Town with the Old Bridge, which attracts standard guests.
Many street art works can be found around the infamous abandoned building of the former bank, one of the most famous ghosts of Mostar’s past, which jaggedly rises from the surroundings as a symbol of violence and war crimes.
A morbidly monumental and imposing building with horrific wartime memories is still covered in bullet holes that have been painted with graffiti, both inside and out. Local and visiting artists often choose it as a public painting canvas.
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Italian artist Bifido
The emotional urban exploration culminates in a mural that visually screams the pain stuck in the towns’ mentality, as felt by the Italian street artist Bifido. His special connection with Bosnia inspired him to create the mural Love Will Tear Us Apart.
In search of what he could love, Bifido visited Mostar several times. He says that he got to know Bosnia and fell in love with it, so he is often drawn back, especially by the Neretva river, which he perceives as flowing melancholy. He gifted the town with an impressive, visually powerful mural. With tears still flowing down the city walls. With invisible screams that still echo in the streets and squares.
Šantićeva street
Named after the poet from Mostar who in his late 19th-century works dealt with social injustices, nostalgic love and togetherness of the southern Slavs, the best parable of the new Mostar and its street art festival is Šantićeva street. The street represents the unofficial dividing line of the city, it used to be on the main battle line.
The poet’s work inspired artists from Uruguay and Spain, who beautified the facades of residential buildings with Šantić’s motifs and themes. An impressive visual impression was also created by the mural of the Uruguayan art collective Medianeras, which represents a youthful face with a bold look into the future.
Artez from Serbia joins with a girl holding a new life (the plant), Benjamin Čengić from Sarajevo with a colorful flying boy, Aleksandro Reis from Brazil with a portrait of Luciano Pavarotti. The latter helped to establish a youth music center in the late 90s. We have listed only some murals on an important street in Mostar, which will host even more of them in the future.
Stubborn ass of Herzegovina
Mostar’s murals are also becoming a tourist attraction that’s reaching new audiences through social networks. The widest virality in the year 2020 was achieved by the mural of the local artist Ante Lovrić from neighboring Široki Brijeg, titled Stubborn ass.
The mural was painted on the facade of a residential building in the Bijeli Brijeg neighborhood. The artist began his career as a graffiti artist with vandalistic signatures on public surfaces, and today he is known for his distinctive artistic satirical work and humorous murals. In his works, the motifs of Herzegovina and the life of the Herzegovinians dominate, where contemporary street art skilfully blends with tradition.
With the support of the local community in obtaining permits to refresh the facades of buildings, including educational institutions and residents, the Street Art Festival Mostar provides an open space for young artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina; but also internationally renowned artists who persistently gravitate to Mostar. This made the town one of the largest and most beautiful open-air galleries in the region.
– Every day we make acquaintances that would not exist without the Festival. It covered the whole town, it came to hidden streets and visible public spaces. It creates an unique urban art story and an important part of collective memory, the organizers explain.
– We cooperate with the local community, encourage the development of contemporary creativity in public art and contribute to the promotion of the concept of street art in public spaces.
The picturesque town of Mostar is worth the effort and drive for an urban vacation during (at least) the weekend. The innovative and colorful Street Art Festival with its rich cultural program is traditionally held in mid-September.
Photographs by Tanja Cvitko
originally written in Slovene for local newspaper Večer, 2022
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