Framed by WDET: Dijana
“I didn’t leave my country because I didn’t like or love something. It was just politics,” says Dijana Bucalo, Bosnian American fashion designer.
Framed by WDET is an audio-visual experience, produced in partnership with 18 artists, who tell the story of moments and spaces where people come together and find belonging in Detroit.
In Framed by WDET: Beyond Balkanization, photographer Doug Coombe and producer Rob St. Mary tell eleven stories of Americans living and working in Southeast Michigan while maintaining their cultural traditions, rooted in their respective home countries across the Balkans. Rich photos of artists connect visual elements to the eclectic voices telling stories of Balkan tradition and immigrant life.
In this feature, Dijana Bucalo talks war, her life in the United States, her love for Bosnia and becoming a fashion designer.
“I think I was born with a needle in my hands, to be honest with you,” says Bucalo. “And I’ve been always interested in fashion, in constructing garments…I wanted to learn how to construct the garment according to my imagination in my head.”
