Petar Kuprešanin is the brain behind the aesthetics of the Serbian Festival in Sydney.
He’s in charge of yearly design themes, social media posts, magazine design, raffle tickets, posters, shirts, signs – essentially, every piece of visual promotional material has been carefully crafted by the 21 -year -old Wollongong University student, with some help from fellow creative Petrija Pajić.
This year the Serbian Festival has gone ‘retro’, drawing inspiration from Yugoslavia and the world in the 1970s. Yellow, orange and brown palettes; it’s a complete flip from what crowds are used to.
“We got away from the whole ‘red, blue, white theme,’ says Petar. “I feel like that’s a fresh start for the festival – not that I have anything against the Serbian colour scheme, but I feel that with the youngest committee to have ever organised it, we needed a refresh. It’s not a rebrand, just a new perspective on doing things.”
Petar says that each year it’s his task to brainstorm a theme for the following year. Given the rich and long history of the Balkans, he says it would be a waste to always stick to the same movements in Serbian art history.
The average age of this year’s completely volunteer organised and run festival is 22, the youngest group in the history of it’s running.
There are plenty of changes to layout, program and even the food and drink menu; but Petar is most focused on a change in creative energy. He says that the festival has the opportunity to foster a new path in Serbian community life in Australia – the creative sector where artists, photographers, musicians and writers are welcome to share their works and ideas.
“There is a barrier between different types of Serbs and I think that’s dependent on the waves of Serbian migration to Australia,” says Petar. “You have people coming now in the 2000s, newer migration in the 90s, and then you have us older generations in Australia. My parents were born here in the 70s, my grandparents came way before that.
Petar notes that in some ways Serbs in the diaspora tend to drift apart due to different concepts of what life in Australia should look like. He says that sometimes, pressure to conform to one ‘Serbian identity’ leaves true creative expression out of the picture.
“We all share a Serbian identity, but we present it differently. I tend to think that sometimes my generation and my parent’s generation tend to be more ‘patriotic’ so to speak, toward anything Serbian, because we have grown up with that nostalgia and mentality from a post-World War II context. When life was extremely hard globally.”
The pressure of ‘being Serbian’ doesn’t always encourage a career path in the arts. Petar says that while navigating acceptance as an artist is always hard, the nostalgia of older generations and their reactions aren't really the problem - everyone reacts to art in their own way and negative reactions are a part of that. He thinks the onus is more on creatives standing up for themselves and sticking together.
“Navigating art in the diaspora can sometimes feel like a minefield. You want to explore your identity without offending someone else’s perception because we all identify differently. But also, that's art. You can't really please everyone anyway; at the end of the day someone will love it, and someone will hate it. That is a risk you have to take. What young creatives need to do is know that we exist as sub-community of our own and know that we can find support within those connections.”
Petar says that career earning fixations are still an issue for many young people wanting to get their foot in the door.
"I know so many creatives are getting lectured on how this profession isn't worth it. Serbs still have a huge hang up on being engineers, doctors, lawyers and second best to all of that they say, 'well go work on construction'. Someone us just don't want to do that and if support isn't coming from family, it should come from fellow creatives in the community who can speak to those problems."
Petar says the diaspora needs to break the stereotype that Serbs are either mathematics genius or gyprockers and concreters.
"Definitely do it if you love it, but there shouldn't be pressure for those that simply don't have those interests or skills."
Petar also agrees that stereotyping and panic over the future is very much a migrant issue -he says creative hubs back in mainland Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia are much more open and developed.
"I suppose as the world evolved in their home environment and context, they got more freedom, whereas here our parents and grandparents were fighting to survive and establish themselves - something that you simply need a lot of resources for. You don't always have the luxury to pick what you do when you're supporting a family."
The challenge for many second and third generation young people is being stuck between tradition and the push for survival, and the modern Australian environment that has moved past that. Often, Petar says it can leave young people feeling like they don’t belong anywhere.
"It was in a way frustrating to go back a few years ago and see that my cousin, who also studies graphic design in Belgrade, is hanging out with a community of creative Serbs and organising all these different events. There are so many creative hubs across Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia - they're not small communities either - seeing that is very, well, weird. Here [in Australia] we have this old school mentality 'being a creative won't get you anywhere' or 'won't get you any money', and then I see my cousins overseas being supported by a whole community of Balkan creatives. It's not the same here, it's two different planets. One planet is modern Serbs in the Balkans, the other planet is the diaspora that took the mentality of post-World War II and stayed there.
The Serbian Festival each year comes out with a magazine and this year consensus was reached that it needs to move from advertising and google history summaries, to a launch pad for young artists, writes, photographers - even musicians.
The committee crew, which is entirely volunteer run, this year has put in more work to have a proper art exhibition.
On display will also be the works of third generation young creative, Natalija Subotić.
Natalija, who studies an arts degree in Australia, says she's the only one with Eastern European heritage in her class. While her work, which explores traditional dance, costume and music from Eastern Europe, is very different from the works of her peers - there is a huge interest to know more.
"My work is usually ideas, concepts and patterns they [students] have never seen before," says Natalija,"but they don't shut off from it because it's different. They want to know more, there is a need for Serbian heritage and ancestry to explored in Australia."
Other than her good friend Petar, Natalija says she isn't widely connected to creative Serbs in Australia. This is something she too would like to see change.
"The Serbian Festival is an opportunity for us to get our work and ideas out there, for creatives who we don't know to get in touch."
Petrija Pajić who works across platforms, is a photographer but also holds a fine arts degree. She's in charge of re-branding the famous 'Serbian Festival container' each year and her dream is to see young people united in their talents and ideas.
Earlier last year, through a social media initiative, she managed to join ten or so Serbian young people from across Sydney, who had never met, who weren't in the same field, but who wanted a group to bounce creative ideas off.
She says the festival needs to be a safe place for future generations in the Serbian community.
"I want to be the person, and for the festival to be organised by people, that I would’ve loved to have known as a child. Someone to look up to and someone to tell me ‘it’s okay to be different and this creative side is a bonus, it’s a talent’. My generation is grown up now, we are all in our 20s. We need to show primary school age children and high school children that they can be leaders in community and be whatever they want in Australia.”
Petrija says including various skill sets in committee crews means that more sides of the community are represented.
“I hope younger kids that come and see us volunteering, see the creativity and the happiness, and that they find the courage to represent the identity they feel. A lot of people get lost and think being Serbian comes with a set of rules – that’s not it, it’s an individual experience.”
The Serbian Festival Sydney is on this weekend – 22nd and 23rd of February at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. To find out more, head to the Serbian Festival Sydney facebook page.
Don’t forget to listen in Serbian! Click the cover photo for more content in language.
