Signs of Bosnia, Joint Exhibition by Sead Emric and Halida Emric

The recent exhibition "Signs of Bosnia" by famous Bosnian artists Sead Emric and Halida Emric was on view in the historical building Hanikah in Sarajevo.

Sead Emric and Halida Emric have already had the opportunity to exhibit in the Bosnian capital several times. Each time, they would attract a lot of attention from the audience and the media. Sead Emric, a painter, also creates graphic prints, while Halida Emric is a ceramicist. The title of the exhibition itself is not accidental. For years, these two artists have been creating cycles of paintings and ceramics. They evoke the spirit of Bosnia, and the cultural layers developed in these areas throughout history. Their focus is on the periods of the medieval Bosnian kingdom and the Ottoman period in which identities of Bosnian peoples are mostly unrecognized, above all, Bosniaks.

In the exhibition "Signs of Bosnia", artists use symbols, primarily architecture, writing, and landscape which they transform into abstract signs that require some effort from the observer to understand and interpret, which again gives the entire exhibition philosophical discourse.

Halida Emric and Sead Emric / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Installation view in the Hanikah, Sarajevo / Photo/ Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Installation view in the Hanikah, Sarajevo / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Sead Emric, an abstract painter, focuses on transforming landscapes and architectural forms, which he then unites and gives them an entirely new meaning. His paintings' interior, or structure, is filled with various symbols and letters as an artistic language, forming a very expressive abstraction layered with meaning. Interestingly, his paintings are mainly in a vertical format. They follow specific layers that stand out from the bottom to the top as archaeological layers, ending with the outlines of architectural monuments. The colour scale of his works is impressive, with strong contrasts and the dominance of red. However, some paintings are colour-uniform and very harmonious, which shows the author's tendency to move from the expressive to the idyllic and lyrical.

Sead Emric in front of his painting / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Sead Emric, painting from the Sign of Bosnia exhibition / Photo/ Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Sead Emric, painting from the Sign of Bosnia exhibition / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

In his graphic prints Sead Emric drew inspiration from the historical seals of old Bosnia, from the medieval and Ottoman periods. To emphasize these graphics even more historically, the author frames them with the ancient Bosnian alphabet in Bosnian, which is one of the synonyms for Bosniak cultural identity. In this way, Old Bosnian seals become spiritual symbols and signs of identification, even today.

Sead Emric, painting from the Sign of Bosnia exhibition / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine

Halida Emric presented herself with very expressive ceramics, with various shapes and purposes, such as vases, plates, trays with teacups and similar. Her pottery has its functionality, but its striking aesthetic impression also has deep artistic value. On some of her dishes, she uses the symbolic and ancient Bosnian alphabet Bosancica and her colour combinations are pretty impressive. The spectrum of colours that Halida focuses on is blue-green valerians and bright red and details in gold. Halida Emric established herself as one of the best ceramics artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the presented opus.

Halida Emric with her ceramic plate, from the Sign of Bosnia exhibition / Photo © Islamic Arts Magazine