VESNA CROATIA

Vesna’s father and pregnant mother were on the way to the hospital in Dubrovnik, Croatia when road conditions forced them to make an unscheduled stop. Her birth took place in a home owned by a poet outside the city. She was raised in the city of Split, located on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. 

Following law school in Croatia, Vesna attended Newnham College in Cambridge, England where she studied English. There she met her future husband David. They were married in England and permanently moved to the United States in 1970. 

“One thing that I was born into and continue to carry is the identity of an immigrant. My family was immigrant, I am an immigrant here and my grandchildren are also children of an immigrant. I love being here (in Minnesota) with my mind and my body but at the same time I feel that my soul remained where my childhood was and I sometimes question, do other immigrants feel like this, you know, this kind of fragmentation. But it’s primarily positive, but still it’s big. For me as an artist I think about it everyday.” 

Traffic Zone Art

English

I grew up in Communist Yugoslavia, which was, you know, very rigid system. Everything was in order from top down, and when I came in to United States, I began understanding the importance of democracy. To me those are two biggest differences between Croatia and United States. But, also, I think that climatic conditions are very different. Croatia is much warmer. It is located next to Italy, and it has that kind of climate which is warmer, and summers are drier and hotter than what we have here. While in Minnesota, I think what is in focus about our climate is very long and difficult winters, so that was all for me, requiring big adjustments is a very big different differences. Also the big differences in natures and landscapes aesthetics. Croatia has [the] Adriatic Sea, which is one of the most beautiful seas, it’s [a] very small sea, that is very buoyant, because it’s rather salty and it’s wonderful to swim. You don’t have to know how to swim; you can float easily. Well, here I feel that it is old man’s river and it is very different — gorgeous aesthetic also — of the river and the lakes that we have in Minnesota that is so much enjoyed, but I find them to be a very different visual and bodily experience when you actually are in it.

Croatian:

Moje ime Vesna losa moje bivše ime Krez. Ja sam bila rođena u bivšoj Jugoslaviji u Bosne i Hercegovine ali sam odrasla u gradu koji se zove Split koji je u Hrvatskoj. Došla sam u Ameriku na 1970 e godine kad sam se udala za Davida koji je Amerikanac iz Minneapolisu Minnesote i cijene smo stigli u Ameriku ja sam počela studirati umjetnost i postala sam umjetnica koja radi na cijelom profilu različitih tehnika kao na primjer slikarstvo skulptura a njege i tako dalje i tako dalje. Razlika između Amerike i Hrvatske ogromna najviše o tome što Srbija odrasla u komunizmu koji je bio naredba od Vardara prema dole. Dakle bio je jako rigidni sistem. Ali kad sam došla 970. U Ameriku onda sam se tek počela upoznavati s demokracijom i šta znači demokracija to je bio dug ali sam proces za. Osim ove razlike ja mislim da je razlika velika i u klimatskim poslovima između Hrvatske i Amerike. Hrvatska je puno toplija zemlja i klimatski je drugačija. Zime su hladne ali su kiša bura dok je ovdje daleko teža duža zima na primjer ona je mračna zima i ona je ledena Zima puna snijega i leda. Druga stvar koja mi je različita je estetika okoliša. U Hrvatskoj imamo Jadransko more koje je predivna jedna od najljepših mora na svijetu dok ovdje što je divno je prekrasna rijeka Mississippi i divni i brojni brojna jezera.

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