In the summer of 2019. my grandmother and mother returned to Betina,
with me for who it was the first time. Betina is a small place on Murter
island in Croatia. The place where my great-grandmother and her
ancestors were born, where my grandmother spent part of her life,
and my mother her youth.
They hadn't been there for 30 years until that year.
There were no quarrels between our wider family, only emptiness and
a slight hesitation to go there/come here after the tragic events.
So the contact faded. Fortunately, my grandmother always had a bit of contact with her brother, who was glad when she told him we would come.
Although everything is different now for my grandmother and mother,
there is always room for new beginnings, it just took a little time
and car fuel. And we had that. And the will for the three of
us to go on some adventure together.
My whole life I'm listening to stories about Betina from their past.
It was always like a fairytale place in my head.
Like my father’s stories from the Macedonian side of the family
and villages where they lived.
My grandmother’s stories and the place I met are different.
People don’t grow so much of their tomatoes, they don’t make
as much of their olive oil and some plots are lost in the cadastres,
but the charm and charisma of a small place are there.
And our wider family.
I met my younger cousin with whom I clicked so much with music,
temperament and common themes that we created a long-lasting
connection and like I was the first time in my life in Betina,
he came for the first time in his life to Belgrade.
The new generation began a new circle.
Life can create so many new paths and repair old ones
in ways, no one could expect.
This first time and the first photo of returning of a three-generation woman
to the place of origin became the photo project that I photograph
carefully every year. I don't know where it will lead me in photography,
but I know it made my life richer and my wider family reunited again.
Thank you Mom and Grandma for introducing me and connecting
me with the place that was a big part of your life.
I will try to make it also an important part of mine.
Photo and Text by Anđela Petrovski
U leto 2019. moja baka i majka su se vratile u Betinu, vodeći mene
kojoj je to bilo prvi put. Betina je malo mesto na ostrvu Murter u Hrvatskoj.
Mesto gde su rođene moja prabaka i njeni preci, gde je moja
baka provela veći deo svog života, a moja majka svoju mladost.
Nisu bile tamo 30 godina, do ove godine.
Između naše šire porodice nije bilo nikakvih svađa,
samo praznina i blago oklevanje da se posle
tragičnih događaja ode tamo/dođe ovamo. Tako da su kontakti izbledeli.
Na svu sreću, moja baka je uvek imala malo kontakta sa bratom,
kome je bilo drago kada mu je rekla da ćemo doći.
Iako je sada za moju baku i mamu sve drugačije, uvek ima mesta za nove početke,
samo je trebalo malo vremena i goriva za automobil.
I imali smo to. I volju da nas tri zajedno krenemo u neku avanturu.
Ceo život slušam priče o Betini iz njihove prošlosti.
U mojoj glavi je uvek bilo kao mesto iz bajke.
Kao i priče mog oca sa makedonske strane porodice
o selima u kojima su živeli.
Postoji razlika između priča moje bake i mesta koje sam srela.
Ljudi ne uzgajaju toliko paradajza, ne prave toliko od svog maslinovog ulja,
neke parcele su izgubljene u katastrima,
ali šarm i harizma malog mesta je tu. I naša šira porodica.
Upoznala sam svog mlađeg rođaka sa kojim sam se povezala kroz
muziku, temperament i zajedničke teme i uspeli smo da stvorimo
dugotrajnu vezu. Kao što sam ja prvi put u životu bila u Betini,
on je došao prvi put u životu u Beograd.
Nova generacija je započela novi krug.
Život može stvoriti toliko novih puteva i popraviti stare na načine
koje niko nije mogao očekivati.
Ovaj prvi put i prve fotografije povratka tri generacije žena na mesto
porekla postale su moj foto projekat koji svake godine pažljivo
fotografišem. Ne znam kuda će me to odvesti u fotografiji, ali znam
da je učinilo moj život bogatijim i širu porodicu ponovo okupila.
Hvala mama i bako što ste me upoznale i povezale
sa mestom koje je bilo veliki deo vašeg života.
Trudiću se da postane važan deo i mog.
Photo and Text by Anđela Petrovski
