The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, besides the rich collection of exhibits that bear witness to the rich history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also possesses an interesting collection of works of art created by two artists, preparers and taxidermists Feđa Čehajić and Boro Žuža.
Their task is to revive the past and make permanent settings and exhibitions of B&H’s most important scientific and cultural-historical institutions attractive, and they are very successful in doing this! Thanks to their “magician” moves, visitors to the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina can experience what they read and see inside historical books. They make replica of dinosaurs, various insects and birds, lilies, ships, rocks, houses … in natural and unnatural size.
– There are lots of projects behind us. We mostly work at the Department of Natural Science of our museum. I’m an invertebrate expert and my colleague is vertebrate professional, but since we both graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, the space of our work has expanded to painting and sculptures. So, besides making replicas, we have become true directors, and the museum is our theater. We also do visual and sound effects – Ćehajić told us.
The materials used in the making of their works is dictated by the financial support to the museum, which makes that cheaper and often improvised.
– In principle, it is polystyren, polyester, glue, and we develop new methods and technologies during the work itself. We are finding our ways. We are trying to show more realistically what we are doing. For example, to make water look natural, we make it from polyester, and the reactions are great, although we are still studying how to improve it. Also, we have been studying a mammoth patch for a long time, and eventually made it from a sheep wool. It looks identical – he said.
Project work sometimes lasts for two to three months, and the project which lasted the longest to be completed was the six meters long dinosaur.
-The dinosaur was demanding because of the structure itself, but also the look of his skin. We start doing something without knowing how it will look, it was very difficult to make squama. But, we did. In developed countries this work is done by ten people. One just glues things, the other is coloring, the third one prepares part of the figure, and it goes faster. It is how it is here. We love our job and it keeps our spirits up. We are doing the best for children who are our audience – he emphasized.
Apart from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, interested audience can see works of this creative couple in museum facilities in Banja Luka, Tuzla, Orašje, Visoko …
