Croatian and Bosnian Children's Art in Times of War

This paper looks at the effect of the destruction of homes, displacement of families, and ‘ethnic cleansing’ on the artistic expression of thirty five children aged 4 to 12 who were ‘deposited’ in Zagreb in September 1991. The children are mainly from Croatia with a few from Bosnia, and they have been with us for almost three years. In an attempt to offer them some form of control over their negative experiences (and the dreams, memories and traumas these occasion), a supportive climate of trust and discussion was offered, in which drawing and painting materials were available and used. The results of their experiences are apparent in their social relationships, and most movingly and tellingly in their pictorial images and the verbal descriptions which accompany these. Although the work is being studied by focusing on two age groups - 4 to 7 and 7 to 11 - in order to examine the Intuitive-Symbolic level of cognitive development in the former, and the Concrete-Operative level of cognitive development in the latter, we are very much aware of trying to give them the means by which they can rediscover a positive self image in order to battle against their self-destructive and negative sense of self. In the totality of this experience which is a mixture of the social, educational, psychological, therapeutic and artistic, I feel we are learning as much as we are helping.