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THE NOSTALGIC EYE

MAY 21, 2023 // BERLIN

NORA NOVAK

As a result of the former Yugoslav Wars, in particular the Croatian War of Independence that lasted from 1991 to 1995, my parents fled the country, when I was three years old.

A couple of years ago I began thinking about producing a documentary series to capture the life of the people in my mother’s village Prapratnica. I wanted to create these memories in order to be able to look back on them, before they completely vanish. 

My main idea and concept shifted suddenly when my mother got very ill. She passed away in 2017 and I felt the need to dedicate this project to her, to experience this village through her eyes and to reflect on her past and the present me.
Nora revisits her home country and culture frequently, in order to create sustaining roots in her present life and identity. Through her photography, she seeks to find a beginning of her family’s story, an open window, the way back home. Through the perspective of an outsider with a nostalgic eye, she engages with the past and the present, creating a visible thread that becomes her biography.
 
Nora shared with us her personal journey, autobiographical, and in a sense a ‘self-portrait’. Finding identity and heritage, belonging is something we can all related to.


THE MENU

It took me while to figure out the menu.  But I foraged all the herbs in the Prignitz, a beautiful country side in Brandenburg, between Berlin and Hamburg.

May punch, with woodruff and herbs from the Prignitz region
_________
Fried nettle leaves in beer batter
Sage leaves fried in olive oil
_________
OXYMEL, wild herb juice, honey, apple cider vinegar, mineral water, lemon
_________
Salad with wild herbs: goutweed, fennel, groundsel, chervil, ribwort, sorrel, dandelion, white deadnettle, tellweed
Black and melon radish, dandelion roots fried in butter and syrup, strawberries
_________
White bean stew with Ayjar (Vegan)
Mussels, eggplant, hot peppers, garlic, bread, oregano, thyme, rosemary, white wine
Squid, garlic, potatoes, peppers, dandelion buds capers
_________
Roko sheep cheese from Dalmatia, black walnuts, paprika confectionery
Pancakes, Sorrel parfait, vanilla, dandelion flower syrup
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ABOUT NORA NOVAK

Nora Novak is a documentary photographer based in Meersburg on Lake Constance. Born in 1989 in Dubrovnik, her family moved to Germany in 1993 due to the escalating war situation in the former Yugoslavia.
After training in marketing and communication, Nora returned to her hometown in 2012 and began her career as a photographer. She then continued her education and completed her studies at the University of Applied Sciences Europe in July 2018 with a Bachelor's degree in Photography.

With a nostalgic view of the past, Nora Novak strives to capture stories that show life from earlier times. Her goal is to preserve old traditions and remember the past in order to establish deeper roots in present-day life. Her main themes—identity and heritage—combined with her visual storytelling, enable her to look back and re-experience what once was.

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