With great joy for all those dedicated to working with people, child well-being, education, and mental health, on September 27, 2025, at 8 p.m., the exhibition “This Is A®merica by Minotaur Rex” by academic painter and independent artist Muhamed Kafedžić was opened.
The small yet welcoming space of the Arka – Art & Education Center (President Amer Hadžić), located at Logavina 20 in Sarajevo, was filled with visitors aged 5 to 89, all connected by the idea the artist presented through his canvases: violence cannot be accepted as the standard of human communication, weapons must not be celebrated as a virtue, and each person’s individual aggression and hypocrisy must be continually re-examined.
Black dominates the canvases, each painting representing a poignant story about school massacres, violence against migrants, weapons turned into memorabilia, or parties that glorify the use of arms. Painting is an art we look at, and what we see in Kafedžić’s works is reality itself—presented just as it is.
From photographs published in the media, the artist creates new wholes, combining details from multiple sources with painterly strokes, adding lyrics of songs that fifty years ago were considered poetry of rebellion and are today recognized as classics we still enjoy listening to.
This unique syntax of Kafedžić’s opus “This Is A®merica by Minotaur Rex” offers every observer/consumer a personal semantics: the paintings can be linked to the music of the songs whose lyrics we see on the canvas, and what is “seen and heard” can then merge into an entirely personal experience—one that does not need to be tied to art criticism, textbooks, or anyone’s imposed truths, but can remain a deeply introspective encounter with oneself.
The creative possibilities in psychotherapeutic work are enriched by this opus, opening many new practical uses for each canvas (similar to the values of associative cards, techniques of visualization, or perceptual focusing). Likewise, psycho-education as adult learning can be enhanced through the use of these paintings as an educational tool.
As the Academy of Psychotherapy, we are proud to stand alongside Professors Dr. Larisa Kasumagić Kafedžić and Dr. Mirjana Mavrak as mediators in affirming this painting opus. And, as the Strings Attached Simfoneta Duo (Belma Alić and Tamara Arsovski) expressed during the opening with the song “Sve smo mogli mi…”, we always wish to underline our professional commitment to do something for the protection of children and youth from violence, thereby contributing to the cultivation of community mental health.
Kafedžić’s opus “This Is A®merica by Minotaur Rex” leads us toward these possibilities. The exhibition remains open until October 17, 2025, and we warmly encourage you to visit—step forward!
