In 2017, a collective of linguists, writers, and cultural workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia published the Declaration on the Common Language. It suggested that, despite political borders and differing standardizations, the people of these four regions share a single polycentric language. Due to identity politics and lack of majority support however, the declaration remained a suggestion and never saw ratification.
My piece SSlav Slab Serif Variable Typeface imagines what the alphabet would’ve looked like if the region were to accept the Declaration on the Common Language. By intertwining the two dominant writing systems of the region, Gaj Latin and Serbian Cyrillic, the project creates a third alphabet that every Bosnian, Croat, Montenegrin, and Serb can read, yet it does not exist in the status quo. By merging scripts historically used to differentiate communities, the work proposes a visual language that connects them.
My piece SSlav Slab Serif Variable Typeface imagines what the alphabet would’ve looked like if the region were to accept the Declaration on the Common Language. By intertwining the two dominant writing systems of the region, Gaj Latin and Serbian Cyrillic, the project creates a third alphabet that every Bosnian, Croat, Montenegrin, and Serb can read, yet it does not exist in the status quo. By merging scripts historically used to differentiate communities, the work proposes a visual language that connects them.
