Young Bosnians Turn Hateful Graffiti Into Joyful Art

The central Bosnian town of Zenica in May hosted several young people from several towns in Bosnia with one aim - to paint over offensive, hateful graffiti.

Nationalist and political slurs and threats against ethnic groups are now transformed into a colourful mural, under a team led by Faruk Celikovic, a young street artist.

"The idea was to show that what used to be a wall of hate can be easily transformed into a wall of love, a wall of art to show that we, the young, are against this kind of hate," Celikovic told BIRN.

Celikovic noted that people in Bosnia, especially the young, deserve an environment free of hate, warning that messages like offensive graffiti can soon be taken for granted.

"If it is there [hate graffiti] and no one reacts, it can easily be interpreted as a message that should be followed, but we had a chance to give it a different perspective," Celikovic said.

He explained, that without a proper reaction, society risks becoming tolerant of hate speech, and that young people will then accept that way of expressing themselves.

Building in Zenica Photo courtesy of USAID/Be the inspiration

The idea of turning the offensive graffiti into art emerged through a USAID-backed project, Be the Inspiration, launched in November 2018, with aim to empower and mobilize youth to be a force for reconciliation and mutual understanding in Bosnia.

The project is conducted with the Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia, YIHR and the Sarajevo-based organization Infohouse through the National Democratic Institute, NDI.

"While this type of graffiti is quite novel for Bosnia, this was also a chance to show to those who are interested how to do it [graffiti] in a safe, legal way, while addressing some important...