The images that will be on display in Leipzig were created as visual companions to literary, humanistic and journalistic texts about events that have marked the last 17 years. They are meant to capture the viewer's eye, arouse their curiosity and accompany them on their reading journey. But the pictures themselves also want to become stories, detached from the constraints of the text. Enlarged on the walls, they take on a life of their own and bear witness to the importance of social consciousness and the artist's critical understanding of society.
The images transcend the texts and create a parallel visual narrative in a commanding and untranslatable visual language. Globally recognisable symbols appeal to a wide circle, but the element of the unexpected takes them to a new level and opens up a field of unknown associations. Samira Kentrić emphasises that the exhibition is "first and foremost a tribute to the texts that served as a starting point; because both words and images are irreplaceable and do not say the last word: they are an invitation to dialogue."
Samira Kentrić is a feminist visual artist, writer and performer who comments on the political processes in Europe and the Middle East, repeatedly linking public, political discourse with the intimate sphere of everyday human life. She has illustrated numerous books and newspapers with opinion pieces and is the author of three graphic novels (Balkanalia, Letter to Adna and Adna). Balkanalia has so far been published in Bulgarian by Paradox and German by Jacoby & Stuart and the Ukrainian edition at Vydavnytstvo is set to come out later this year.
Photo: Azra and Handke © Samira Kentrić