Art and Survival

Through the project Art and Survival, Connecting Cultures has faced the complex and delicate problem of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) – an illness which takes a particularly heavy toll in post conflict countries, particularly devastating for the possibilities of reconstruction of an everyday normality within those societies – applying the language of art in an empathic approach on several levels in order to combat the stigma relating to mental health and the widespread anxieties deriving from the social and psychological consequences of widespread violence. Focusing attention on Bosnia-Herzegovina twelve years after the end of the conflict, Connecting Cultures invited the artist Cesare Pietroiusti to conduct a workshop working with three of the most promising Bosnian artists (Sandra Dukic, Arman Kulasic, Lala Rascic) and with the patients of two Mental Health Centres in Mostar. The long preparatory phase due to the complexities of creating a dialogue with and between the local institutions and the creation of a network of organisations has been an important part of the process. All the phases of the project, with special attention to the workshop experience, have been filmed by a team of professional filmmakers of the Centre for Contemporary Art of Sarajevo and a documentary on PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) was produced. The whole project has been introduced by Connecting Cultures in a study day dedicated to the theme of the Human Rights, Art and Survival | Focus on Bosnia-Herzegovina, presented at Triennale Bovisa, together with video materials of the project.