I was invited to the city of Zadar to paint a mural on this abandoned building connected to another old, devastated, and much bigger building. That bigger one is currently in the process of renovation, and hopefully, next year will be completed and turned into a cultural center for youth. Parallel to the painted wall, you can find an indoor skatepark-Menza, a part of a squat named Neverland. I decided to use the name of the squat as an inspiration or the central theme and connect that with the current events (regarding cultural centers and culture in general) in Croatia. In my hometown of Zagreb, there is less and less of this type of places, and many more abandoned buildings are wasted away. In the past few years, especially in this one, Zagreb lost some of the most popular and historical places where many of our music icons started to grow. Maybe I'm trying to say "Kudos to Zadar" for building something more valuable than fountains or some overpriced gondola lifts.
As I was painting this mural, I had some people asking me why I painted people like they were hanged or high on drugs. I hope that with the text above, I explained the idea behind the mural. Thinking about some of those comments and interpretations, I guess it's safe to conclude that without culture, your youth might end up the way some folks saw it: wasted.
