Fifty photographs from the CHF archives on display at the monastery in Tolisa depict the life and work of Croatians that have moved abroad. On hand to speak to the gathered audience were Ms Antoljak and special guest art historian Antoaneta Štefančić.
The Croatian Heritage Foundation has a number of long-standing projects that connect it with Orašje, a town in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina. The collaboration had its roots back in 1995, while the war waged against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina raged, and the muses stood silent while weapons spoke in the Posavina region that Orašje is the hub of. Since then the CHF has been a faithful partner to the local Days of Croatian Film event, which has grown into a respectable festival.
Mandica Živković, the acting director of the Orašje Culture Centre, noted that our collaboration also includes the CHF’s Creating Theatre seminar and its Eco Heritage Task Force project, with Nives Antoljak, the head of the CHF culture department, regularly involving the Posavina region in these efforts. There is also the ongoing From the History of Migration Out of Croatia photographic exhibition, opened at the local Franciscan monastery on the 21st of October. Fifty photographs from the archives of the Croatian Heritage Foundation on display at the monastery in the nearby settlement of Tolisa depict the life and work of Croatians that have moved abroad.
On hand to speak to the gathered audience were Ms Antoljak and special guest and art historian Antoaneta Štefančić. They spoke of the significance of the historical material on exhibit, which bears witness to a period in our past and to the migration of Croatians abroad. They noted that the Roman Catholic Church has been, and remains, a pillar in the gathering of Croatians abroad, with some seventy Catholic parishes gathering Croatian communities active in overseas countries and 122 Catholic missions gathering Croatian communities across Europe.
“This is a travelling exhibition,” said Ms Antoljak, adding that “these photographs should serve as a lasting reminder of the hardships of moving abroad, the hardships these people have endured, and that today’s young people will most likely endure, perhaps in a different way given that we are now in the digital era. They certainly do not have an easy time of it. The path walked when moving abroad is a hard one. The role of the CHF is to be a bridge of collaboration, which we are also doing in the case of Orašje. The CHF is an institution that brings together all Croatians, in the homeland and around the world.”
By: Nada Koturić
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