Slovenačka Bosanka / Bosanska Slovenka
2021
video
04’48”

Title translation:
Slovenian Bosnian / Bosnian Slovenian

The video is both a performance piece as it is a music video. I am singing a Slovenian folk song which exists in many variations and Slovenian dialects. I am exploring and working with its melody and lyrics, which I not only modified and added new text to it but also sang in combination of three different languages: Slovenian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian and German (Vienna dialect).

At first glimpse, this work might seem as being just about the music. But as the title suggests, the theme of it is a complex investigation into my different identities. The early childhood experience of a war refugee, someone who was forcefully displaced and had to quickly adjust and assimilate into the new environments, heavily influenced and shaped my own persona.
The trauma caused by this displacement is continuously elaborated in my work and my intention with this particular video is to show that, despite bad experience, I must accept the events and cherish my multi-cultural, social and political identities formed under these circumstances. The element of the mirror and ‘the mask’ in form of makeup suggest the never-ending hiding and revealing of these identities.

With the help of the music, I am going back to the roots but also staying true to all the places that shaped me into the person I am today and which continue to be my many places I am excited to call home.

Sanja Lasić, Video frame, 2021