From dawn to dusk – exibition of field photography

We get up at dawn, they would say, with the first roosters, but since there are no roosters, in silence. Ready to go. Ready to walk, walk, walk, drive and walk again, walk, in hope and anticipation.

Roads await us, some less traveled, narrow paths, untrodden paths, plowed fields, meadows and orchards, forests and groves, vineyards and meadows, banks of small flowing waters and mudflats, rock and clay fields, hidden metals in the bowels of the earth and they, insignificant to some, but bright traces of past times to us.

Intentional and unintentional encounters, valuable and less valuable tellings, guidelines and signals.

Here is good water, there is a spring, there is a clear stream, it was named Srebro, there Slatina, down Kladenac, up Smrdan… Here the land is fertile, the sun is fertile, there the winds blow, there is swampy ground, there the river flows , there he knocks down a stone. It was nice to live on this sunny glade, with a wonderful view to the east, between two streams. We wouldn’t want to build a nest on this windy slope, where we are greeted by dry grass, with rocky and rolling stones in the background and nests of entwined venomous snakes.

We walk, walk, walk, head down, bent posture, not because of discomfort and anxiety, but because of following the tracks. So that we don’t miss something. We listen to those silent calls from the grass, under the fallen leaves, from the bottom of the ravine, from the plowed furrow. And that piece of baked earth, that small fragment of a broken vessel, tells us a story about the time when it was created, about the people who made it, used it, broke it…

New and old villages, new and old cemeteries, new and old churches, new and old forts, new and old traces. Chukars, castles and towns, peaks and mountains, villages, houses, churches, gates, cemeteries and guards… Lower village, upper village, small town, zbegčić, zbegovište, fairground, brick factory…

Let the view from this hill, from this tree, from the vantage point, absorb the landscape!

Kod topole, Kod reke, Pojate, Pojilo, Bujmir, Lipovak, Orlovak, Veseljak, Repushak, Velike livade, Jelenska obala, Kandovac, Kazanište, Ornice, Jaruge, Rudsko bilo…

Jerinin grad on this side, Jerinin grad on the other side… Miličćevske kuće, reke, njive, Lukićka mala, Damljanov kladenac, Damljanovi brestovi, Tasin branik, Plešino brdo, Veljino brdo, Tomine livade, pavlov potok, Savin potok, Rajkov potok , Lazin potok, Zlijski potok, Vecina mala, Gajina vodenica, turske njive, Arnautske njive…

Key along the river, field to the side… Estuaries, meanders, fields between rivers…

And everything is beautiful, both wild and tame. And every toponym has its own story, hides its own truth, gives a story.

At the end of the day, accompanied by the purple disk, with our loot of new knowledge stuffed into our bags, we return from the road, ready to step into a new past tomorrow, and the day after.

The exhibition From Dawn to Dusk is available to visitors of the Regional Museum Jagodina until September 30, 2024.