The siege of Sarajevo lasted 44 months. For 1425 days, Sarajevans were first under the occupation of the Yugoslav People’s Army, followed by the Army of Republika Srpska. In what would become the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, independence, it seems, came at a cost.
On 29 June 2016, the War Art Reporting and Memory (WARM) Festival hosted the exhibition “Afghanistan: After Enduring Freedom” at the Java Gallery in downtown Sarajevo. The exhibition featured photographs captured by Andrew Quilty, an Australian freelance photographer currently based in Kabul, Afghanistan.
One of the most controversial matters in the media today is the decision to publish, or withhold, violent and disturbing photographs while reporting tragic events.
After years of civil war and oppressive Taliban control, taking photographs became a crime, which caused a complete media blackout in Afghanistan. When the US invaded the country in 2001, fledgling free press emerged and a newfound fascination with the power of photography was brought to light.
American photographer, Ron Haviv, spent 10 years documenting the Balkan wars. His work was used as evidence for prosecuting war criminals. An exhibition of his work Blood and Honey: a Balkan War Journal is being held in the Srebrenica Gallery in Sarajevo until April 2016.
A new photographic exhibition in Sarajevo documents the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. It aims to help survivors transform from victims to participants in the struggle for justice.