The exhibition “War and Peace in the Balkans” featuring the works of five photographers who have documented the First World War and the daily life of that time in the Balkans, was opened last night at the Gazi Husrev-Bey’s Hanikah in Sarajevo.
Exhibited are the works by American photographer Lewis Hine who photographed child victims of the war, while Ariel Varges, also an American, photographed Thessaloniki at the time when the multinational forces of the Entente were stationed in the city.
On the works of Russian photographer Sampson Tchernofa is shown the withdrawal of the Serbian army over the mountains of Albania, and two anonymous photographers from the German and French armies photographed the everyday life in the Balkans during the war, as well as the war crimes against civilians.
The professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo Edin Radušić said at the opening that the exhibition is essentially the anti-war one, because it displays a time when war trumpets become moot and the glitz of the ceremonial uniforms disappears, and once strong guys come home maimed or in coffins.
He emphasized that such exhibitions bring us back from the collective to the individual and the man as a human being, and that these photographs, which are not beautiful but are powerful and impressive, will have long-term benefit if those who see them spread the universal idea of humanism as a true human value.
The exhibition was previously set up in Thessaloniki and Bucharest, and after Sarajevo it will be installed in Belgrade.
The exhibition is organized by the Goethe Institute and is opened until July 20th.
(Source: novovrijeme.ba/ photo dnevnik.ba)
