When you point a finger, three are pointing back

When you point a finger, three are pointing back – Croatian soccer player Mateo Kovačić made headlines around the world when, after losing the 2018 FIFA World Cup final, he sang a nationalist song back home in Zagreb.

For Croatian-born Lana Mesić (NL), it was a moment of mixed emotions: she was saddened to see Croatia’s war-torn past seeping so freely and unabashedly into every fiber of society. But it was also the starting point for a visual examination of the role and significance of the enemy image in his fragmented childhood in the former Yugoslavia, and how this history still resonates today.

The complex history and contested borders that have shaped the countries of the former Yugoslavia provide the stage on which Mesić weaves new personal narratives.v In light of recent political developments in Europe, the book encourages us to reflect on our own experiences. By highlighting them, he helps to counter the nationalist narratives that dominate today’s political landscape. But is it possible to reconcile the negative and positive effects of nationalism?

When you point one finger, three are pointing back is made up of photographs, newspaper clippings, TV program excerpts, rumors, whispered conversations, written stories and relics meticulously crafted from matches and matchboxes.