As part of the large international scientific conference “Srebrenica – 30 Years After Genocide: Memory, Responsibility and the Challenges of Denial”, an exhibition by Bosnian photographer Damir Šagolj was held at the gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo. The exhibition will also be opened at the Sarajevo Railway Station.
Damir Šagolj’s latest exhibition includes photographic works created from 1995 to the present day. Everything is shown – from quiet landscapes of crime scenes to portraits of survivors and families of victims.
“You have photographs that were created in 1996 and you have photographs that were created about twenty days ago, but they are all the same and they are not arranged in any chronological order, from 1996 onwards, but they are all in some groupings. And then you see that this Srebrenica is a huge, sluggish, difficult story that imposes itself on us, at least to me, as the most important story that I have ever done as an author,” says Šagolj.
“I looked at the visuality of these photographs and their repetitiveness and did not arrange the photographs chronologically because, unfortunately, 30 years after the entire massacre that took place in Srebrenica, the remains of all the victims have not yet been found,” said Lejla Hodžić, the curator of the exhibition.
The exhibition is part of a wider program, and all activities are a call to remembrance and confronting the increasingly present denial of the crime.
“In principle, we know of a large number of works, from Šejla Kamerić and Bosnian Girl, that deal with the issue of memory and the tragedy in Srebrenica itself and our war,” adds curator Hodžić.
“It is our job to remind, to document, so that future generations do not see it as if it happened to someone, a completely third person from someone completely fifth,” says Šagolj.
The exhibition will be open until July 13. Its message is – the truth must remain visible and must never be forgotten.
