Sasha Kurmaz – Codes of Violence: Visual Diary

The diary is, in one sense, a chronicle of violence experienced from the personal perspective of the artist and those living in close proximity, a record of the everyday reality of permanent threat—images that must not be forgotten. Beyond the documentary dimension, though, Red Horse also functions as a critical reflection on the visual reality of war.

It is a project commenting upon the persuasive mechanisms through which images operate—images by means of which the world at war is sensed, experienced, and understood. The iconography Kurmaz processes is therefore not merely a trace of events. Such images possess their own agency: they shape possible modes of response and seek to compel us to adopt particular positions and undertake actions programmed in advance. This iconography entangles us in war in its own ways, shaping imagination and sensibility, as well as who we ultimately are.

In this way, Red Horse forms part of the broader body of Sasha Kurmaz’s artistic work in which he seeks to understand the mechanisms of the political impact of visual codes within specific social conditions. He examines the ways images subordinate us, deprive us of agency, and entangle us in a political reality over which we are gradually losing control.

Text | Michał Sita

All images | Sasha Kurmaz, Red Horses, 2022-2025