Abandoned
artist’s book, 2010

This artist’s book is inspired by the tragic dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Wars (1991-1995), and the economic depression caused by the political chaos. During that time, common people grew drastically poor, while the aggressive politicians and their families got rich. National currencies lost their value and meaning, causing the disaster of the banking sector, so everybody saved German marks, Swiss francs or American dollars in secret places such as drawers, tills and mattresses. Some people even used to cut holes in the text blocks of books and kept their money for the insecure days there. Nobody believed in the banks especially in Serbia when hyperinflation reached its zenith in 1993. The biggest banknote from that period was for 500,000,000,000 (five hundred billion) dinars. Sadly, everybody was a millionaire, or ironically a billionaire, but in fact without a penny in his/her pocket. For one month’s salary my mother, who was a professor of Serbian, could buy one egg! Galloping hyperinflation killed the Serbian currency and market. My book reminds us of that sad period of recent history in order to never forget how common people lived there in those difficult times. It also represents a warning for every hot-blooded person who thinks that civil war is something necessary and romantic. I have been writing and publishing aphorisms, jokes, and satires in Serbian daily and satirical newspapers since 1999. Abandoned combines my sense of humor with my graphic design and bookbinding skills. The pages are taken from an old typographic catalogue and represent all kind of typefaces. The secret compartment is designed to keep a lot of banknotes, but there is only one $1 US bill to symbolize the poverty of those days. Using proportions from the US dollar, I made the rectangular hole with a scalpel. On the bottom of the secret compartment is a light green paper which symbolizes the color of American money. But instead of a stash of precious dollars resistant to wild hyperinflation, there is a triptych hidden behind that one dollar bill – a picture of three malicious dictators: Franjo Tuđman, Alija Izetbegović and Slobodan Milošević. Their portraits are with smiles, but those smiles represent the real nature of their characters – evilness and greed. These are people who cannot even laugh naturally without grimaces. On the triptych which I made in Adobe Photoshop, I wrote the text in Serbian and Croatian (Serbo-Croatian): SVE SMO VAM UZELI! Translated into English, that text means: WE TOOK ALL (FROM YOU)! The cover of the book is made of thick ochre cardboard so the book looks more like a real wooden box. Abandoned is bound by three screws in order not to be opened – I don’t want anybody to take my money from the secret stash. The screws are connected with English word screw because those wild politicians screwed us during the 1990s and we still suffer because of their horrible mistakes. The name Abandoned evolved from a mind-map process. It is related to the main feeling of my whole generation: we are penniless and without a future. I used the font Stencil to manually print the title. This typeface is common for boxes and packages. Abandoned is included in the permanent collection of artistic books at the Archives and Special Collections Vernon R. Alden Library, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA.

2013: Published in Font, No. 130, Prague, Czechia (typographic magazine)

2014: Published on Muyricotodo, Buenos Aires, Argentina (an online magazine for art and design)

2014: Published on Vizkultura, Zagreb, Croatia (an online magazine for the visual arts)

2014: Presented at Campbellsville University, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Art and Design, Campbellsville, Kentucky, USA