16/1/2022
"Biljana Šešum, Gordana Ždero and Dijana Ećimović died in the fire that happened on November 16, 2005 in the House of Culture in Gradiška. The tragic event left each of us in tears. Directly next to the House of Culture, a granite memorial plaque was built on a dark red iron frame as a temporary memorial to the victims. For several years, they searched for a permanent solution, and in 2020 they came up with the idea of creating an artistic sculpture at that place, which will be dedicated to the victimized workers.
From the first sketches, the goal was to achieve that everyone who pass by that artistic sculpture, be drawn to approach, take a photo and remember our fellow citizens who are no longer with us. The previous board had informational data, but not aesthetic data. In contrast to the granite that existed until then, which was black, which with its coldness repelled everyone who was nearby, I decided to change the material and color of the sculpture. After a long search, I decided on stainless steel, which is resistant to weather conditions, gray color and matte surface. The sculpture was supposed to be a part of the environment and fit in with the greenery and flowers for which the surroundings of the Cultural Center are known. The material as such has the characteristics of slightly reflecting the colors of the environment in which it is located, thus blending harmoniously with the space in which it is placed. The idea was to abstractly, without any mimetic representation, depict three people in a minimalist way, who in this way, in our memory, will live in us. Inspired by the tall flower petals rising from the flower garden of the Cultural Center, I decided that the sculpture has three elements representing each of the three women who perished. From the common base, three thin leaves spread in the middle and gather at the top, symbolically forming our palms in which we keep them. As it was in Gradiška in those days, it can be described that our tears flowed towards the sky, defying the force of the earth's gravity. This is exactly what I incorporated into the conceptual design of the memorial. On each of the three elements, at the top are our tears that go to heaven, to them. They are stylized and fit into the abstract approach of this solution. Considering that it is a solution that implies three women, the form aimed to be elegant, delicate, yet firm and durable in order to defy the time to come. The minimalistic approach to the form symbolically represents a gap that has arisen. Purity and simplicity is something that adorns this sculpture, which is devoid of the custom of leaving flowers and lighting candles on and next to the sculpture. The gray color of the material is always slightly enriched by the reflections of the park flowers found in the surroundings, emphasizing the spirit of the people who live in us. The conceptual solution made of stainless steel is placed on a black granite pedestal, symbolizing the permanence of our memory. At a height of 65 cm from the base is a granite slab measuring 87 x 87 cm, on which is placed a stainless steel sculpture measuring 170 cm. The total height of the sculpture with the pedestal is 235 cm. Due to its dimensions, an artistic sculpture requires that we slightly raise our gaze upwards, towards the sky, towards our heavenly tears.
The idea is that it should not be a monument in the classical sense of the word, but that it should be a memorial through art, so that those who died through our mention would be alive among us in the time to come. As an academic artist, it was an honor for me to contribute through this sculpture and a permanent solution to this tragic event that happened in 2005.
Aleksandar Obrenović
Master of painting
*Published text from the Gradiški zbornik, number 23
