2025

I present my experiment that touches on war, collective memory, children’s perception of war, and the suffering of children in war zones. I wanted to create a contrast between horrors and innocence. I wanted to show the contrast between the cruelty of war and childlike innocence.

Looking at old photos from the Soča Front during World War I, which belong to my boyfriend and are being studied historically, topographically, and scientifically by him and various collectors who are interested in them, I tried to feel the spirit and inner life of that time and those people. In reality, you don’t need to know much about history or geography to be drawn to these photographs and to feel them. Suffering, hardship, and war are universal experiences. Even though I did not experience war myself, I was connected to it through stories and, ultimately, indirectly through the patterns and habits that my ancestors brought with them from that period. War is the worst form of psychological suffering that can happen to a person or a nation, and the fact is that the hardships of war resonate in the unconscious inner world of every human being. The area where I live was exposed to three wars in the previous century. The younger generation and today’s children have had no direct contact with war.

I scanned the photos from Soča Front and gave them to my nephews, and they spent a few months spontaneously drawing on the photos. It seemed to me that the children did not fully understand what the photographs were showing, even though some of the symbols and shapes coincided with the events in an incredible way, both randomly and non-randomly. Children not fully understand photos allayed their mother’s fears that the photos might have a negative impact on them or even leave them traumatized. But I also wondered about the current wars and children in war zones, such as Gaza, where children are killed, maimed, and suffer severe, irreparable trauma.