Over the past several days, Livno’s Coalition Against Hate “Uvazavanje” and students of the Secondary Vocational School “Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic” joined forces to paint a mural over an offensive graffiti on a building in the center of the city marketplace. In these efforts, they were supported by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and they obtained permission to carry out the project from the City Administration.
Everyone is welcome in Livno
Since the building at the marketplace, one of the busiest places in Livno, with its existing graffiti, did not present the most positive image of a city long known for its hospitality, the Coalition decided to change its appearance.
“We want to send the message that everyone is welcome in Livno. In recent years, work has been done on tourism in Livno, and it is not our goal for such things to be shown in Livno, national or religious hatred and intolerance, and I think that the majority of people in Livno do not support that either,” said Asmir Orman, a member of the Uvazavanje Coalition.
Cheese, horses, and founding day
The mural design with stylized symbols of the city was conceived and, together with talented students, realized by Ana Susnjar, a web design and art teacher: “We complicated it a bit, added some organic motifs, brought a bit of warmth to the wall, and depicted religious forms, everything that makes Livno: cheese, horses, the founding day. We showed not just decorations, as someone might think, but also a bit of the city’s atmosphere, which we presented through these abstract forms.”
All of this was to the delight of the citizens, as well as the students and employees of the school.
Despite morning sub-zero temperatures, the diligent hands of the students and their teacher worked for days. Before the eyes of the public, a mural was created that represents Livno through a blend of tradition, identity, visual symbolism, and the message that this millennia-old city has always been open and hospitable, and that it will remain so.
