By equating the linden tree with the identity of Lipa inhabitants and the regenerative potential of the village, Marina Rajšić presented to the public a land art installation based on the artistic treatment of linden leaves. Marina collects the leaves, dries and shreds them and then distributes them in specific ways on the public areas of the village, thus suggesting the symbolic expansion of the area of positive influence associated with Lipa.
— Vana Gović Marković, Memorial Center Lipa Remembers
Lipa is defined by its past, but also by the present, as well as with what Lipa (the community) with an identity dating back to the past does in the present for a better collective future of the society. Lipa inhabitants are connected by long family lines, tradition, shared memories/stories/testimonies, genes, mentality, fears. Lipa (linden) remembers, but not in bitterness, but with an ingrained collective consciousness, good intentions, and “pure” attitudes. Only such a healed community is ready to teach others by spreading the anti-war message and universal appeal to the conscience, advocating desirable patterns of behaviour.
The concept is specifically related to spreading and “distributing” the identity of Lipa, the core of which is in the village itself, and the seemingly invisible value which the community members spread (message of peace, forgiveness and tolerance) is universally applicable and still needed in the 21st century.
The work was made within the project "Recognition of absence" in the public space of village Lipa, organized by the Memorial Center Lipa Remembers (part of Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral).
Photo credits
Installation view at XIV. Triennial of Croatian Sculpture: Katerina Duda
Croatian title
Čestice Lipe