Impact 01 - Bosnia after the war

Hi everybody, I need your help.

 

After visiting Bosnia to shoot a documentary there we decided to run

an exhibition with parts of the pics you will find in this folder. I

need some critics, please, not so much for a selection but to get an

input on the everlasting question: is it worth it?

 

Tell me what these pics tell you, in terms of aethetics and/or

connotation.

You are going to see lots of impacts of all kind. Keep in mind that

some of the houses are still working as "homes" and that others are

empty because their former inhabitants had to flee or were killed

while trying to do so. There will be brief information to every pic.

 

Thanx in advance, you are about to do me a favour which will not be

overlooked!

This conveys the beauty of the city's architecture and the destruction caused by the war. I might have cropped this differently--the washed out sky and distant buildings on the right side don't really add to the emotional content of this. What I find compelling in this is the building on the left with the mixture of flowers and bullet holes.

Is it worth it? My god, the answer is an unequivocal YES. And that's a yes as to this horrid event in particular and to the bigger issue of chronicling the devastation of war in general. I guess from my standpoint as an American who has been inundated with the propagandist myths about the recent "liberation" of Iraq, I can't applaud enough the efforts of people like you for trying to bring home the stark reality of conflict and its effects.

 

An image like this resonates with me on a couple of levels. First, and more superficially, it has the features that convey the harshness of war by showing the bullet holes and damage. However, on a second level it conveys a psychological element: the effort to bring sanity back into the world after the insanity of the conflict has passed. Specifically, this is shown by the flower pots in the windows. It has an even larger theme, though, if you also consider the minaret in the distance on the right side. Its a symbol in perfect keeping with the sad, religious roots of war in the 1990s and early 2000s. Keep pursuing this Oliver. It will doubtless garner a range of responses, both positive and negative, but it will always be worth it.