The Adventures of Inspector Yoda the Wrinkled: Queering the Streets of Belgrade (2023)

Abstract:
Inspector Yoda the Wrinkled (Inspektor Yoda Zgužvani) is an artivist project by Nikola Herman (Nikša), which also included his pug Yoda in creating a street art alter-ego to bring critical commentary and humor to the streets of Belgrade, Serbia, between 2014 and 2018. Their work is closely interwoven with the LGBTQ+ history and street art interventions in the past two decades in Belgrade, and provides an example of locally contextualized and critical appropriation of the concept and term queer (in Serbian, kvar which literally means malfunction). In almost 200 distinct graffiti/visual messages, Inspector Yoda the Wrinkled playfully appropriated vernacular language, often subverting the meaning, and offering an important gender and social critique in the nationalistic and sometimes violent public space of Belgrade during the mid-2010s. It is paramount to look at these interventions in a contextualized and embodied way: as situational artworks which serve as tools of queer place-making. The stenciled little pug with speech balloons Nikša used to tag the city could be interpreted as a sign of resistance and hope in an environment prone to desensitization to violence and general apathy.

Inspektor Yoda Zgužvani, Ne transfobiši transformiši se & I will not apologize for
(t)art, 2014 or 2015 (photographed in 2018), stencil, by Aleksandar Đalek Đorđević (Street Art Belgrade).

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my thesis chair, Dr. Susette Min, and my readers, Dr. Michael Yonan and Dr. Mitja Velikonja, for their invaluable guidance, constructive feedback and constant support. I would also like to thank Dr. Tallinn Grigor who supported the seed of this research during her Minoritarian Modernism seminar. You all made me realize this professional and personal adventure was not just possible but also necessary.

Nikša Herman’s openness, selflessness and “peace loving lunacy” both inspired this research and contributed to it. This is an homage to Yoda as well as to your unique vision.

My cohort has been listening to stories about Inspector Yoda the Wrinkled for more than a year. Thank you Hunter Kiley, Simone Gage, Sienna Weldon, Hannah Thompson and Xuying Liu, for your camaraderie, insightful comments and unquestionable support.

Lastly, I would like to thank Tavon Cooke and Ljiljana Radošević for believing in me.

The MA thesis will be available via ProQuest platform or by request.
Abbreviated version of the text is published as an article here.