Featured Artists 2
Bojana Blagojevic
In her own words: “My name is Bojana Blagojevic and I am a 22 year old student from Bosnia. I write poetry and a lot of my poems were written during the war. They helped me survive the difficult times I had to go through. I was almost 16 when the war started. For two years, my mother and I were living in a besieged town (my native town — Gorazde). There was no electricity, no water, no means of communication. There was very little food and constant danger of death because of continuous shooting and shelling. We were separated from my father for two years without having any news about each other. (He went to visit his mother the day before the war started, and he was planning to be back the following day…But the following day, the shooting started, the town was closed, and no one could go out or into the town.) My mother and I escaped after two years and we found my father through the Red Cross.
“During the war in Bosnia, I worked for the International Red Cross for three years. Besides writing poetry, my survival was helped by teaching myself English and French. My education had been interrupted, but I managed to come to the United States in 1996 (with help from a friend from the Red Cross who had some cousins here) and continue my education. My schooling is sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (greately thanks to my poems written in English). I am a third year student at Rutgers University (studying Political Science). My family is still in Bosnia, and I live with my host-family.”
Ms. Blagojevic has had a collection of her poems in Serbo-Croation published in Bosnia in the book “Heaven of Lost Birds” as well as in local newspapers, and in the book “Youth Poetry 1997” in Yugoslavia. Some of her poems in English have been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies in the U.S., Australia, Switzerland and Germany. She had two collections of her poems in English ready to be published and is seeking a publisher, the first one is “Story of One Heart” which she wrote during the war, the second was written after the war and is called “Dance for Life.”
You can read more of Ms. Blagojevic’s work in our Poetry Gallery.
Sarajevo In My Dream
by Bojana Blagojevic
[Author’s Note: During the war, I could not visit my sister who lived in Sarajevo because of the closed roads and front-lines in between us. So, I wrote this poem, trying, at least in my dreams, to cross over that empty space created by other people.
(written on April 19, 1995 in Pale/Serb Republic, Bosnia)]
Whenever I try
to go to Sarajevo
in my dream,
to see my sister,
my niece…
I have to pass
a broken tree
over some strange,
unfriendly stream.And then I travel
by wings and trains,
and through my head
so many thoughts
fly and scream
These days, above Sarajevo,
it always rains-
it rains,
in my dreams.But I go,
from time to time,
in spite of night
which always comes
with me,
and covers
Sarajevo town
and all its streets.Whenever I go
to Sarajevo,
to see my sister
in my dreams
I meet an empty space
and death
of my niece.And always I go
with hope
to break through dark
of this time,
to find my sister
in my dream,
and dear niece
alive…
Dan Rhema
[email protected]
http://www.danrhema.com
Dan came to be a visionary artist through a near death experience caused by his contracting Dengue Fever (also known as Break Bone Fever) and Spinal Meningitis while working in Mexico. You may read more about Dan and view selected pieces of his art at www.danrhema.com. Dan’s near death experience and subsequent creative healing art has brought forth a unique collaboration of Louisville playwrights, poets, actors, video producers, and dancers. “A Quest For Healing,” a monologue, poetry reading, and dance program performed in the midst of Dan’s visionary art, has been presented three times in the past year. The documentary “Altered Visions: the Dan Rhema Story,” was shown at the Louisville Film Festival in November, 1997, coinciding with a solo art show at Artswatch Gallery. A brief synopsis of the film can be found at http://www.artswatch.org/Films.html.
In 1999, the Bunbury Theatre will present a production of a work based on Dan’s near death experience and his new life as a visionary artist. Please check out the April Raw Vision International Gallery and Studio Directory for the new Dan Rhema Studio listing. Dan is currently the featured artist on the 2001 fund web site at http://www.metaglyph.com/2001. Take the time to read about David Kremples and his work with the 2001 Fund. There is also a link to Dan’s site on the Outsider’s Pages at http://www.interestingideas.com/out/outlinks.htm. You can read a feature article about Dan in Louisville Magazine at http://louisville.com/loumag/jul97/art7.htm. Dan will be featured on the marketplace at Phyllis Atwater’s site on Near Death Experiences. Phyllis is the author of “Beyond the Light,” and is an international speaker on Near Death issues.
Dan’s work can be viewed in person at the Dan Rhema Studio, the Chapman Gallery at Science Hill located at 525 Washington St., Shelbyville, KY: phone 502-633-0204 and at the Louisville Visual Art Association Gallery in the Galleria: phone 502-581-1445.
Two other sites carrying Dan’s art or links to him are: The Mining Company http://folkart.miningco.com/msubart.htm and The Kentucky Brain
Injury Association at http://www.braincenter.org/gallery.htm. You can contact Dan at 502-637-7444, email dr[email protected] or mail at 212 W. Ormsby Ave. Louisville, KY 40203.
You can see more of Mr. Rhema’s work in our Visual Arts and Sculpture galleries.
 Many Eyes, Many Paths acrylic on masonite |
 Fever
wild thorn vines |