Balkan River Tour 5 / Sava: Bohinj to Belgrade, 39 days. 4 countries. 1.000km of kayaking. 1 River. The Sava The tour should happen between April 24th – June 1st 2020, but it was postponed to 2021. The Sava River. It’s an icon of the Balkans, and a river that connects Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The Sava is incredibly rich, wild and important to the cities and towns along its length. But all of this is threatened by up to 14 new dams planned to be built on the Sava and 500 new dams planned on its tributaries. Our BRD crew will kayak the entire length of the Sava River. Joined along the way by people that understand the importance of wild rivers, we will spend 39 days and 1.000 km in our kayaks using only paddles to get us from the source in the Julian Alps of Slovenia to the confluence with Danube in the white city of Belgrade, Serbia. During the 39 days of kayaking (from April 24th till June 1st) we will bring together locals, nature conservation organisations, kayakers, fishermen, scientists, schools, media outlets and decision makers to show how incredible and important the Sava catchment is for wildlife and local residents and how foolish it would be to destroy all that with new dams, destructive gravel extraction and dredging.
The black and white base is a scan of an original lithography of the (then free flowing) Sava next to Krško, done between 1842-1848 by Joseph Wagner. Removed, were imperialistic and clerical objects. The Sava and the tributaries were enhanced with a ‘Sava green’ colour. In the backdrop, on the right bank, there is a village tightly connected with the river. Fish, typically found in a free flowing Sava (Zander, Brown Trout, Common Nase, Cactus Roach, Grayling, Bullhead, Hucho and Asp), are literally standing up for the river and two kayakers are rushing down the path to help them. In the far background there is a cutout photo of the silhouette of Belgrade. And up to you is to figure out whether sun is setting or rising. Illustration technique is mixed; manipulated collage, ink, watercolour.
Cryptozoology of the Sava river / b/w manipulated collages of crypto animals made out of indigenous species that inhabit Sava river’s fauna
Illustration for environmental campaign: Za naravo ob Savo / For Nature Along Sava / On June 27th, we connected and walked, paddled, cycled and swam the entire length of the Sava River in Slovenia (258 km); from the springs in Bohinj and Podkoren, all the way to the point where the Sava continues its journey through Croatia. People could join on 25 different sections where we drew attention to harmful encroachments on nature, present beautiful pieces of nature and species threatened with destruction, organised clean-up campaigns.
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A6 horizontal flyer (A and B site) for a clean-up campaign Za naravo ob Savo
A3 poster for the campaign
Illustration for environmental campaign: Za naravo ob Sočo / For Nature Along Soča / On September 19,, after the successful June campaign, it was time to connect for nature along the Soča. Together we have crossed, paddled and cycled along the Soča River from its confluence with Lepena in the heart of the Julian Alps all the way to Anhovo, where the chimneys of the Salonit Anhovo cement plant rise ominously. It began in 1921 with asbestos, which is still quietly killing. Today, waste co-incineration and drinking water problems continue.
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A6 horizontal flyer (A and B site) for a clean-up campaign Za naravo ob Sočo
A3 poster for the campaign