Lessons from ’91

On February 28, at 18.00 hours, exhibition of war photographs, Lessons from ’91, by the curator Dr. Sandra Vitaljić, will be opened in the Museum of Yugoslav History. In Belgrade, the exhibition was organized by Photo Association of Serbia in cooperation with the Museum of Yugoslav History. It is a part of a larger project by the Association for European Awareness from Maribor, with partners Photo Club Maribor, International Photography Festival Organ Vida, and Photo Association of Serbia. The project is supported by EU fund Europe for Citizens. Before Belgrade, the exhibition was presented in Zagreb and Maribor.

For the first time, the exhibition Lessons from ’91 brings together this many photographers from all over the region, as well as several international professionals, in order to display the war years in the former Yugoslavia. Without pretending to be a universal historical view or to offer answers to the unanswered questions, the exhibition presents war photographers’ perspective on reality they had recorded touring battlefields from Slovenia to Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. These photos had an important role during the war, when they formed the public opinion in each of the conflicted countries, but also in the international public. Today, they are even more important to us as the foundation of collective memory.

Domestic photographers, as opposed to those from foreign countries, were able to record the war usually only from one, their own side, and in that situation it is very difficult to switch off personal emotions and sense of belonging. Even though all photographers point out that they did their job professionally and objectively, the media often contextualized photos on the basis of current political needs.

This exhibition shows the photographs taken on all sides of the war. All these photos still have a strong emotional charge and coming back to them, photographers themselves re-live their own war nightmares.

Authors of the photos: Darko Bandić, Nina Berman, Matko Biljak, Renato Branđolica, Davor Višnjić, Božidar Vukičević, Zijah Gafić, Željko Garšparović, Tom Dubravec, Amel Emrić, Dragoljub Zamurović, Romeo Ibrišević, Srđan Ilić, Zoran Jovanović Mačak, Milomir Kovačević Strašni, Borut Krajnc, Saša Kralj Rikard Larma, Paul Low, Anthony Loyd, Antun Maračić, Simon Norfolk, Neboljša Radosavljević Raus, Imre Sabo, Željko Sinobad, Tone Stojko, Srđan Sulejmanović Suki, Pavo Urban, Velija Hasanbegović, Toni Hnojčik, Filip Horvat and Miloš Cvetković.