Dušan Knezević, Potravlje 2015

The potter, Dušan Knezević filmed in Summer 2015 at Potravlje, near Sinj in the Dalmatian hinterland north of Split. Dušan and his brother, Jure, were the only potters to continue working at Potravlje after the war which ended in 1995. Five had been active there until c 1991, but its position on a frontline meant that the entire village had to be abandoned for some years until the Croatian army secured it in 1994. By the time this filming was done Jure, Dušan's elder brother had died, but his two sons had continued to work alongside Dušan, working separately in the nearby town of Sinj and only returning to the village to fire their pots in the traditional way, in open fires. This visit coincided with a festival period in Sinj which gave all three potters the opportunity to sell their similar ranges of cooking pots, bread-ovens, plant-pots and some decorative wares on the streets of the town.
[The music accompanying this is traditional gusle and bagpipe music from the region, recorded in the 1930s and held in the collection of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress which maintains no proprietary rights over the recordings. The recordings used are as follows:
Solo on mjersnice [misnice] (bagpipes)
Boro, Peter, performer.
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995, collector.
Created 1939
Courtesy of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Gusla [gusle] solo
Boro, Peter, performer.
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995, collector.
Created 1939
Courtesy of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress]