Herbarium

Herbarium, 2004-2022. Series of approximately 250 herbariums: dried plants. Variable size. 

Herbarium is based on the traditional way of collecting, preserving and classifying plant specimens. The difference here is that the plants used in the artwork were systematically collected on mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

As an ongoing process over 18 years, the artist collected plants from the mass graves around his hometown of Prijedor in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He would dry them by carefully pressing them between acid-free paper and finally mounting them behind glass, labelling each plant indicating its scientific name as well as  the locality and date of collection. Additionally, the artist states the place name of the mass grave, where the specific plant was picked as well as how many bodies were found in that particular grave. Conceptually, the artwork thus alludes to the circular processes in nature, where the deceased human bodies nurture the plants thereby taking a new form of life.