In several of my works, Marjan Forest Park reflects the city’s overall state and serves as a platform for discussing the importance of protecting the public interest. Through other public and artistic activities, I have also sought to promote alternative developmental visions, diverging from the imposed neoliberal paradigms that reduce the city to a mere tourist destination, devoid of strong authentic urban characteristics. In further work, I would treat this area again as a litmus test for the state of the broader urban context. I would connect it to its northern urbanised contact zone, specifically with architect Vuko Bombardelli (1917-1996), whose residential, public, and maritime projects continue to shape the appearance and life of Split, always serving as the backdrop of my life.

I became more familiar with this architect’s work. He is one of the most significant and prolific Croatian architects of the second half of the 20th century, whose buildings often stemmed from his public advocacy activities. 

By examining Bombardelli’s work, which ranges from monuments, exhibition setups, kiosks, pavilions, and recreational spaces to family houses, residential buildings, the first skyscrapers, and industrial facilities, we can conclude that he was an obsessive urban visionary and a builder of society. By chance, I gained access to and the privilege of scanning and presenting three large photo albums this architect created over about 40 years, comprising newspaper articles, promotional materials, and his photographs. The albums are the property of his family and, until the presentation of my work, were entirely unknown to the public.

Through “Bombardelli: Workers’ Promenade,” I am exploring the origins of my interest in the modernist architectural and urban heritage of Split, as well as other spatial issues. I aim to investigate the impact of the environment on individual psychology and the development of civil society. Bombardelli’s buildings of various purposes, especially residential ones, are woven into the lives of many Split residents, including mine. Using the practice of therapeutic photography in the realm of family photo albums, my intention is, as before, to use photography for elicitation, i.e., to stimulate storytelling and revive memories, both personal and collective. 

Aside from Bombardelli’s album, this artwork is based on the photographs taken by my family members, particularly my uncle, architect Natko Boban. Through this, I attempt to establish contact with the members of my family and a time that no longer exists, using photography as the medium and architecture as the setting for a trans-generational dialogue. The focus is on the house at 5 Spinutska Street in Split, where I first lived. It was constructed in 1961 as a residential building for the “Brodosplit” Shipyard, designed by Vuko Bombardelli from “Architect – Design Studio for Urbanism and Architecture, Decoration, Models, and Technical Recordings”, in collaboration with Župan Mira and Artić Davor, as part of a settlement of about ten different two-story buildings with standardised apartments.

By using photography to raise awareness of the impact of the spatial environment on quality of life and experience, I intend to encourage a better understanding of personal narratives, visual and residential culture, and, especially, the urban cultural context and social dynamics that we co-create with other citizens. One is Vuko Bombardelli, whom we will get to know better by observing and analysing his photo albums.

Working on the existing family album led to a new series of photographs in response to the existing ones, whether through the recreation of scenes, the documentation of what remains of them, or direct intervention in the existing photographs. Apart from that, the newly taken authorial photographs retain their expressive autonomy, i.e., free commentary as a spontaneous artistic impulse by which I establish a bridge between different generations and temporal spaces.

Acknowledgement: Mea Bombardelli and Feđa Bombardelli

Produced with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia