WKU News

The WKU Department of Art is excited to welcome visiting artists the HAD Collective from Visoko, Bosnia-Herzegovina to campus to provide workshops and speak about Bosnia and their artwork to students and the Bowling Green community. HAD Collective artists Muhamed Bešlagić- Hamo and Anel Lepić, and their collaborating videographer Ilhana Babić, will be in Bowling Green from Monday, February 26 through Friday, March 2 after a successful SpiritFunder fundraising campaign, in which over forty members of the extended WKU family participated, secured the necessary funding for travel.

The HAD Collective, which also includes artist Damir Sarač, lived through the Bosnian War as children and, in 2015, came together to make work about that past and Bosnia's future. Say the Collective: “Making already forgotten human beings alive, visible, and important to everybody else is what we intend to achieve with our artwork. We use all kinds of hard surfaces, mainly walls – we scratch, carve, and engrave wall layers to achieve depth and create the form of a human portrait, often choosing everyday people from all sides of the world." Through their intensely physical methods, using hammers, chisels, drills, and found paint, HAD transforms abandoned buildings in the landscape of Bosnia into powerfully moving sites for remembrance.

HAD will bring their unique artmaking process to WKU by creating two semi-permanent installations on surfaces in the Kentucky Museum courtyard. WKU students and other interested community members will work alongside HAD through a series of workshops, during which the public is invited to stop by and observe. A complete schedule of HAD’s workshops can be seen on the WKU Art Department website here: https://www.wku.edu/art/gallery/proof.php. Limited opportunities for hands-on participation are available and can be requested by emailing yvonne.petkus@wku.edu.

The HAD Collective and Ilhana Babić will also be speaking about their work on Wednesday, February 28 at 5:30 pm in FAC 156. This event is open to the public, and free parking is available in the North Normal and Mimosa Point lots on Normal Street. A reception will follow in the Main University Art Gallery on the second floor of the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center.

HAD's visit is part of the WKU Year of Bosnia-Herzegovina and is in conjunction with an exhibition featuring their work, curated by WKU Professor Yvonne Petkus. The exhibit, "Proof of Existence: An Exhibit of Work by Contemporary Artists of Bosnian and Balkan Origin,” is in the Main University Art Gallery on the second floor of the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center and runs through April 6, 2018. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm with extended hours for this exhibition only on Monday and Wednesday until 6:30 pm.

This visit and exhibition are sponsored by the WKU Department of Art, Potter College of Arts and Letters, the Office of International Programs, the Kentucky Museum, and a SpiritFunder campaign.

CONTACT:

Kristina Arnold

kristina.arnold@wku.edu

Gallery Director, Department of Art

WKU

(270) 745-2314

www.wku.edu/art