I have really exciting ideas that I would like to work on for Srebrenica Memorial week and am currently looking for funding to enable me to produce this piece of work.
Between 1991 and 1999 war broke out across the former Yugoslavia. Thousands of people were killed and many more were internally displaced or forcibly expelled from their countries. During 1995 in Srebrenica 8,372 mostly men and boys were systematically murdered and buried in mass graves. The victims, predominantly Muslim, were selected for death on the basis of their identity. This was the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
To commemorate the genocide at Srebrenica in 1995 I plan to create a piece of public art that will remind and inform the public of the events in Bosnia 23 years ago.
I propose to print 8372 business cards individually numbered 1/8372, 2/8372 etc on one side. The other side of the card will have a brief paragraph explaining the event with a link to my website for more information. These business cards remind us of each of those people killed without actually naming them. Business cards will be selected because they represent identity, status and the ability to make contact, many of those who died still remain missing.
The process of numbering will also be an important act. I intend to host a two day event within the project space at Magdalen Road Studios and invite artists and members of the public to participate in the numbering of each of the 8372 cards. These people will conceptually represent the perpetrators, condemning each of the individual victims to their death.
During Srebrenica Memorial week (8th – 15th July) I will hand out these cards in a public space metaphorically exhuming each of the individuals and acknowledging their existence. This will be an act of remembrance that will help to raise awareness and remind us all of the consequences of hate.
On 11th July I have been personally invited to The Remembering Srebrenica Memorial event at The Guildhall in London. I will be one of 11 carefully selected community champions who will light a candle of remembrance in recognition of the work I continue to do to remember Srebrenica.