Aphasia is a book that is published at the occasion of a film installation and exhibition with the same title by the artist Jelena Jureša. As a medical term, ‘aphasia’ refers to the inability to speak or to find the right words. Jureša’s film consists of three acts, each focusing on the collective silence surrounding crime and the compartmentalisation of historical events, and tracing the line between Belgian colonialism, Austrian anti-Semitism and the wars in Yugoslavia.

With Aphasia, Jureša not only digs for the roots and preconditions for a state sponsored violence, but also for the reasons why such collective crimes keep being repeated. The film zooms in on objectivisation and dehumanisation processes, among other themes, while at the same time shedding light on the roles played by photography and film.

Aphasia is a work of art about racism and intolerance, exposing the banality and triviality of evil. The film challenges us to look (literally) more attentively and to question our own individual and collective position.

Aphasia begins where everything else ends — precisely because the artistic imagination can offer different perspectives, solace and justice. – Argos, centre for audiovisual arts

Video produced by Željko Mandić and Jelena K. Vorgučin

Aphasia
 by Jelena Jureša
240 pages / 34 x 25 cm
Editors: Andrea Cinel, Jelena Jureša, Dušica Dražić
Authors: Jelena Jureša, Berber Bevernage, Eline Mestdagh, Barbara Matejčić, Asa Mendelsohn, Branka Benčić, Rolf Quaghebeur
Design: Out of Sight
Published by: 
ARGOS centre for audiovisual arts, KASK & Conservatorium, MER, 2019
Available through: 
MER. Borgerhoff & Lamberigts