UNIVERSITY OF NOVA GORICA GRADUATE SCHOOL ...

Figure 27 | Photograph of a delegation at Tito‘s funeral.
Much like the cases discussed above, this digital memorial includes text, image and sound
(melody and lyrics). Textual, audiovisual elements work as a whole, while also carrying their own
storyline. Looking at the text, it gives an overarching temporal structure to the Yugoslav past:
clearly located in the present our ‗guerrilla historian‘ attempts to represent her own view of the
Yugoslav past. The fact that the state had disintegrated is presented at the very outset and from
this point the narrative then shifts back in time to present the leader of the state, the disintegration
and the wars, and the establishment of the new states. This is a nostalgic yearning for the past that
never was and for the possible future that never was meant to be.
The text itself is extremely emotional, particularly the last line: ―We now live in exile – Ex-Yu.‖
Ex-Yu is a widely used abbreviation of the former Yugoslavia, but in this statement and
audiovisual context attains a telling undertone: those who refer nostalgically to ex-Yu are today‘s
exiled Yugoslavs. As such it figures as a highly personal statement, a statement of loss, which
endows the entire digital memorial not only with nostalgia, but also a condemnation of the
‗perpetrator(s) unknown‘ who had shattered the country and, concomitantly, the dreams of many
people; and many a family, friendship, livelihood and life. The textual tone shows that the author
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