On the occasion of the Sarajevo Canton Day, on Monday, May 5, in the Gallery of the Bosnian Cultural Center Canton Sarajevo, at 7 p.m., the exhibition “Crying for 1,601 Children” by Rikard Larma will be officially opened.
They were created during the siege of Sarajevo and talk about everyday life and childhood faced with the brutality of war. Like a historical record, these photographs, with an emphasized contrast between children’s innocence and the devastation of war, through the dimensions of hope, sadness and resistance, represent a poetic visual essay, not just a chronicle. The exhibition consists of 70 photographs that will be presented to the public for the first time as part of the Sarajevo Canton Day celebration program.
Rikard Larma is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian photographer whose work remains a lasting testimony to the life and suffering of Sarajevo during the siege of the 1990s. From an early age, he showed an interest in photography, and he began his professional career in 1974, working for newspapers such as Oslobodjenje and other renowned magazines such as Sportske novine, Večernje novine, Svijet, VEN and As.
His work covers a wide range of topics from current news photography, magazine, theater, film, television… This changed at the beginning of the war, and Larma’s focus shifted to documenting the fate of the city of Sarajevo and its citizens. Larma reached the pinnacle of his photojournalistic career at the Associated Press, one of the world’s largest news agencies, where he was hired right at the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo. During that period, Larma became one of the most important war photographers, and his works were published in the world’s media and are a very important testimony to the courage and suffering of a city.
It is important to mention that one of the world’s most prestigious magazines, Newsweek, which still exists in print editions today, published Larma’s photograph on its cover in 1994.
After the war, Larma continued his career abroad, working in Jerusalem and the United States, where he was employed as a photographer and editor for the daily newspaper Metro Philadelphia. A long-time member of the Photo Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ULUPUBiH, he has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, interpreting a significant part of the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His dedication to documenting the truth about Sarajevo during the war remains invaluable, and his work continues to inspire and educate new generations about the importance of preserving collective memory. His photographs are not only a testimony to the brutality of war, but also a moving story of the everyday resistance, humanity and dignity of the citizens of Sarajevo.
By depicting ordinary lives that endure despite everything, Larma tells the story of a city that, despite being under constant shelling, has not lost its spirit.
His lens does not seek heroes or the spectacle of war, but rather captures quiet moments and everyday life in which an entire world is reflected, and each photograph emotionally draws us into the story and enables identification with people and lives.
The exhibition will last 10 days, and can be visited every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Klix.ba writes.
Photo: Rikard Larma
