Until recently part of Yugoslavia, Serbia was, until mid-May of this year, in a loose commonwealth with Montenegro. It is now simply Serbia, and may soon exist without its Southern territory, Kosovo. These developments only represent changes in the last fifteen years. Despite the country’s political upheaval, Serbia’s contemporary art scene has attracted significant international attentionin the past few years. While hand papermaking is still an uncommon medium to Serbian artists, it was their artistic energy, evident even at the worst times in their recent history, that drove me to undertake a six-year journey to implement and perhaps rediscover hand papermaking in this country. A few months before my 2000 trip to Belgrade, professor and artist Biljana Vukovi´c visited me in New York and encouraged me to come and teach papermaking at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Belgrade. In the first workshop, held in the graphic arts department, I introduced Western and Eastern papermaking methodology and contemporary art applications to undergraduate and graduate students. The program was a success, and I traveled back many times to teach and research hand papermaking in Serbia. Over the years, I met a range of formidable challenges. For instance, importing the simplest papermaking materials like cotton linters and retention aid is the stuff of short stories and at one point required three days at the post office. Knowing that superior fiber for papermaking exists in Serbia, I felt it would be shortsighted not to create a program that could be as self-sufficient and comprehensive as possible. In spring of 2006, through a Fulbright Scholar lecturing and research grant, I was able to dedicate the time and resources to implement a semester-long program at the Faculty of Fine Arts that would focus on locally available papermaking fibers. I also wished to introduce methods that worked well in other international hand papermaking initiatives for economic revitalization and cultural preservation. Serbia’s Fiber Traditions for Hand Papermaking View of Belgrade from the Sava River. Photo: Olivera Goles, 2006. All photos courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted. During my early research into the status of papermaking in Serbia, I expected to find some historical notation of the Balkan region in one of the English-language papermaking tomes, but years of Internet and library searches yielded few, if any results. Serbia is a small country, with limited attention paid to it until recently. Language also poses a serious problem, with little translated into English and most formal records printed in Cyrillic (both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are employed in Serbia). One tour through Serbia included a visit to the western Serbian ethnovillage of Sirogojno, where a papermaking studio was noted on a map of the village. There was no building at the location indicated, and no one knew of the studio. In over five trips throughout the country, traveling from every angle and as close to the Kosovo border as one could, I found potters, rug weavers, glass artists, and fresco painters, but no one producing hemp, flax, or cotton crops for textiles or papermaking. In 2003, I was introduced to Branka and Vlada Stevanovi´c, ethno-botanists at the University of Belgrade. Both provided invaluable assistance for my research. Vlada Stevanovi´c is the leading botanist of the Balkan region. Both he and his wife have written books on native plants found in Serbia. We traveled together in September of 2005 to Deliblatska Pešcara, in the northern region of Serbia known as Vojvodina, in order to collect papermaking fibers for the 2006 spring semester Fulbright program. Deliblatska Pešcara is a large nature reserve representing overwhelming biodiversity. In 1995, botanists wrote an inventory of the reserve’s plants, which was a significant step forward in understanding the environmental significance of the Balkan region.1 Equipped with the university’s rover vehicle and the additional help of Nikola Stevanovi´c, an artist and former student in the papermaking workshops at the University of Belgrade, our first find was a huge stock of hemp growing by the side of the road. Textiles were the main use for hemp prior to the Second World War and thereafter for rope. No longer utilized for any large-scale industrial purpose in Serbia, it has seeded permanently in locations such as the one we found, probably blown over from earlier, nearby crops.2 We knew it would be a tough fiber to process, but none of us were prepared for how pungent it was, surprisingly akin to its illegal cousin. The ensuing jokes were irresistible. We collected enough to yield one pound of dry fiber and drove on to other locations. Dr. Stevanovi´c’s significant contribution to preservation and research efforts in Deliblatska Pešcara gave us special privileges for collection purposes. Without the help of the Stevanovi´c team, I would have never found flax, the elusive fiber that was once a mainstay for Eastern Europe. Vladimir Stevanovi´c knew its exact location in the reserve. It was the first and last time we tracked down flax. On first glance, the wild fiber is quite unimpressive, at least compared to its hemp or cultivated flax counterparts. Its stems are small, low lyingon the ground, and grow somewhat randomly. Fortunately, their delicate purple flowers were in bloom during our September collection and made them easy to spot. In our attempt to produce a brilliant, crisp, translucent paper, we processed the flax in many steps–—retting, cooking, shive removal, and long turns in the Hollander beater. One surprising discovery that day was a huge overgrowth of wild mulberry. From medieval times until the Second World War, mulberry was a staple crop for silk textile production. What we found was in fact a non-native Chinese species of a non-fruit bearing variety, in all likelihood imported for the silk industry.3 Of the main fibers collected that day, mulberry was the only one that allowed easy hand beating. It was also in the fall of 2005 that Adam Panti´c, chairman o fthe printmaking department at the Faculty of Fine Arts, was building a papermaking studio at the university to accommodate my Fulbright program. This was an incredible break. Prior workshops took place in their printmaking classrooms, not well equipped for papermaking. With little budget for new facilities, the university showed its commitment to papermaking by outfitting the studio with running water, a sink, and long tables. Later, an old book press came to the studio for paper pressing. Part of the Fulbright stipend allowed for the purchase of a ¾-pound Mark Lander “Critter ”beater. Before that time, blenders and whiz mixers were our only resources. The Critter allows the university to process tough fibers such as flax and hemp. In addition, the ability to produce high-quality pulp in larger quantities with the Critter has proved helpful in convincing those new to papermaking of its full artisti cpossibilities. The author feeds the ¾ lb. Critter beater in the new papermaking studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Belgrade. The combination of a designated studio and a new beater has professionalized the program at the University of Belgrade, and will hopefully encourage ongoing papermaking courses and research. After the promising experiments with the reserve’s mulberry, Panti´c collected and processed native black and white mulberry fiber from his grandparents’ farm in the town of Rekovac, locatedin central Serbia. The results were astonishing. Both produced a much whiter and smoother pulp than the wild mulberry variety. Processing it was a dream. The bast layer pulled off the stalks easily, and required little steaming and cooking. We concluded that the winter collection after a severe snow might have helped to soften the fiber. The most exciting development was Panti´c’s determination to create his next exhibition in handmade paper with hand-designed watermarks made from these mulberry trees. Despite our success in the studio, even a month into the Fulbright, many basic research questions remained unanswered about the history of hand papermaking in Serbia. It was first through Zoran Graovac, a Faculty of Fine Arts colleague and papermaker, that I heard of the Crnojevi´c printing press in Cetinje, Montenegro, which opened just 38 years after Gutenberg invented the printing press.4 The press was imported from Venice and used to publish the first books in southeast Europe from 1493 to 1496. Later, Serbian presses relocated to Venice where they continued to operate after the Turkish invasions which suppressed non-Islamic cultural expression.5 Still no record seems to exist on what exactly they printed on, but it is likely that the press imported the original paper from Venice. The curators of Belgrade’s Ethnographic Museum ultimately offered the information that became the key to my fiber research in Serbia. Founded in 1891, the museum was the first ethnographic collection in Eastern Europe. Curator of textiles, Marina Cvetkovi´c and conservator Danieljka Radovanovi´c offered a private tour of the museum’s textile holdings featuring a spectacular array of household linens representing all parts of the former Yugoslavia. Handspun, dyed, and woven specimens made from locally grown crops of flax, hemp, and cotton exhibited a wide range of cultural and artistic influences, from the most basic to the highly ornate. Ms. Cvetkovi´c indicated that one woman is still producing flax in a southeastern town in Serbia.6 After seeing such a fabulous collection representing over 200 years of tradition, I suspect that rags were not in high demand in Serbia as they were in other parts of Europe where hand papermaking was active. It is not altogether surprising that the linen, cotton, and hemp handicrafts, while once widespread throughout the entire country, have ceased for the most part due to the complicated, labor-intensive, and therefore costly processes of making yarn and rope by hand. Adam Panti´c stands in front of a mulberry tree on his family’s property in Rekovac, Serbia. This tree produced the finest papermaking fiber during our experiments at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Belgrade. Marina Cvetkovi´c, curator of textiles at the Ethnographic Museum of Belgrade, shows an antique hemp textile from Eastern Serbia. In the more remote regions of Serbia, these crafts continued out of necessity until the mid-twentieth century.7 If there ever were hand papermakers in Serbia, they may simply have died out with the rise of the industrial revolution. One of the elements differentiating Serbia from many other countries with a hand papermaking industry is that it lacks any substantial government or NGO support for ethno-craft traditions. Once I remember traveling to the town of Vranje in southern Serbia where the director of the local museum lamented that these crafts were vanishing quickly, with no one trained, or even interested in continuing the work. Today, some handicraft traditions have just one surviving practitioner. The curators at the Ethnographic Museum are recording some of these processes.8 Besides the usual consequences of a troubled economy and the young population moving into the cities from the country, a tragic blow to artisans came when the city issued strict tax regulations and confusing application procedures that forced thousands to abandon their handicraft businesses. Curator Ranko Baraši´c of the Ethnographic Museum drafted an appeal for the Serbian government to exempt artisans from these procedures. While his recommendations were not accepted, the city later revoked the ruling. But it appears to have been too late for many of the artisans.9 I spoke with a self-trained papermaker in Belgrade who expressed interest in starting a papermaking business, but was wary to do so. He knew he would face many obstacles, including Serbia’s continuing economic crisis and unsteady political climate. However, if one looks positively at the radical changes that have taken place in Serbia over the past five years, it is possible that these barriers could make way for artistic industries again in the near future. Serbia’s application to enter the European Union has led to a combination of foreign investment and social and political reforms that are, in some cases, focusing on developing the arts and cultural sectors. Hand papermakers often find that their artistic initiatives have cultural and environmental implications that are integral parts of the process, and the search for hand papermaking fibers in Serbia has been no exception. What started as an introduction of hand papermaking to artists at the University of Belgrade evolved into larger considerations for the revitalization of ethnic crafts and the development of small-scale businesses. For many countries in our global economy, craft micro-industries represent some degree of autonomy amid the swell of corporate dominance. Serbia will struggle hard with this issue in these difficult economic times, especially with pressure from the EU to comply with standards to ensure Serbia’s entrance (expected in approximately ten years). Upon my leaving Serbia at the end of my Fulbright project, students at the Faculty of Fine Arts were trained to take over the newly installed studio. One student in particular has decided to do her postgraduate thesis creating works in handmade paper. Saša Sre´ckovi´c of the Ethnographic Museum has been working on securing support for a cultural tourism initiative in southeast Serbia focusing on craft production and art workshops. With this kind of momentum, the hand papermaking sector in Serbia, both for contemporary artmaking and ethnic craft production utilizing locally available fibers, could contribute significantly to highlighting, preserving, and advancing the richness of their country. Hemp fiber is retted in man-made ponds under rock weights in Vranjska Banja, Southeastern Serbia, 1956. Courtesy of the Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.___________notes 1. Ivica Radovi´c and Vladimir Stevanovi´c, “Biodiversity in the Yugoslav Sector of the Danube” from the Biopolitics International Organization (B.I.O.) website. Retrieved April 24, 2006 from http://www.biopolitics.gr/html/pubs/vol6/html/radovic.htm. 2. Vladimir Stevanovi´c, interview by the author, September 20, 2005, Belgrade,Serbia. 3. Branka Stevanovi´c, interview by the author, April 4, 2006, Belgrade, Serbia. 4. Zoran Graovac, interview by the author, March 4, 2006, Belgrade, Serbia. 5. Pavle Ivi´c and Mitar Pesikan, “Serbian Printing” from the Internet Library of Serbian Culture website. Retrieved April 24, 2006 from http://www.rastko.org.yu/isk/pivic_mpesikan-printing.html. 6. Marina Cvetkovi´c, interview by the author, March 17, 2006, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade, Serbia. 7. Marina Cvetkovi´c, interview by the author, March 22, 2006, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade, Serbia. 8. Saša Sre´ckovi´c, interview by the author, March 22, 2006, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade, Serbia. 9. Ranko Bariši´c, interview by the author, March 13, 2006, Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade, Serbia. Two women cleaning hemp fiber in a stream in the Homolje region of Northeastern Serbia near the Danube River, 1958. Courtesy of the Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade. A woman breaks the outer layer of hemp fiber in the town of Svrlig, Southeastern Serbia, 1927. Courtesy of the Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.