A Balkan Journey

"Yes. This is our book, a collaborative project with Chris Leslie. This collection of work will showcase his earliest photographs from a war-ravaged Croatian town in 1996, through to the present-day Sarajevo of refugees and migrants trapped in limbo. This book is really important because, as I mentioned, we work regionally. And this book is about the Balkans and not just Bosnia. It’s the most incredible photographic journey through the towns and cities of former Yugoslavia immediately after the conflict, in 1996. He gives us this incredible insight through photography and visual presence. He shows the destruction of the region and the different countries, but also through access to a 30-year archive of photos, which he created by returning to all these places, he shows how the cities and countries of the region did reconstruct, and did rebuild. This collection showcases the earliest photographs. We recently exhibited the ‘Sarajevo Camera Kids’ exhibition in Sarajevo, which is also part of A Balkan Journey . Chris met these young people at an orphanage in Bjelave and he gave them cameras to take photos. This resulted in a unique photographic record of a city making its first tentative steps towards recovery after war, through the eyes of its children. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Nearly 30 years after, Chris Leslie was able to go into the darkroom and develop these photos taken by the orphans and we had a chance to see the Sarajevo in 1996, its destruction and its life, through the eyes of these young people. It is an incredible testimony. These young orphans from that time are now grown men and women, and they have their own families. We went to meet them. It’s incredible how photography can be such a strong weapon, such a strong visual tool to warn future generations about the consequences of conflicts, and how much we can progress, actually. Sometimes we need to be reminded, especially young people who never had a chance to see how our country and our cities and our region looked like immediately after the war, the destruction, and how the process of recovery was going on. We did rebuild life a lot. We did rebuild infrastructure but it takes time. I think this visual art project provides a crucial moment for reflection at this time, both for the viewing public in general but in particular for the younger generations who are the most important. We use this book as a tool for education and prevention. That’s why I selected this book. It’s quite close to our hearts."