CRNO-BIJELO: Helena Tahir - Tracing Back My Father's Unspoken Past

 

CRNO-BIJELO is a book club focusing on the problems of (post)colonialism, racism, borders, and migration. CRNO-BIJELO is a space of knowledge exchange, learning and unlearning, space of discussion and free will for all interested in the topics of decolonization and the anti-colonial, race and racialization, border regimes, and forced migration. CRNO-BIJELO is imagined as a laboratory where we develop anti-colonial strategies together and create togetherness.

 

For our gathering at Živi Atelje, we will be joined by Helena Tahir, an Iraqi-Slovenian visual artist who will read us a series of letters to her father, written during Helena’s first visit to Iraq – his homeland. The letters testify to her journey as a process of exploring personal and family identity, memory, and history. Helena’s reflections will open us a window into themes of familial connection, exile, loss, and cultural belonging, all immersed in the reality of everyday life in post-war Iraq.

 

Helena Tahir (b. 1992, Slovenia) is a visual artist whose practice is rooted in contemporary printmaking and drawing, expanding into video, installation, and archival work. Her research engages with personal memory, political history, and identity, addressing themes of displacement and fragmented genealogies. She holds both a BA and an MA from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, with additional studies in Porto and Leipzig. Her work has been presented in various international and local contexts, including Art Brussels, ARCO Lisboa, Vienna Contemporary, Art Rotterdam, MGLC Ljubljana, RAVNIKAR, and the Mediterranea 20 Biennial. She is currently a teaching assistant at the Department of Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana.

 

The discussion will be in English, and in case of need, we will collectively help to translate to BHS. Reading the text in advance is not a condition to join the event, but in case you want to prepare, please contact udrugajutro@gmail.com by Tuesday 18.11. and we will send you the materials.

 

The programme CRNO-BIJELO is organized with the support of the City of Zagreb. Cultural organization Jutro's work is supported by the Kultura Nova Foundation.

Visuals: Vina Ćurčija