Broken Lines

"When you come to Sarajevo, be prepared and be mature. It might prove to be the most important decision you have ever made in your life. Bring: good shoes which make you walk long and run fast, pants with many pockets, pills for water, Deutsche Marks (small denominations), batteries, matches, jar with vitamins, canned food, drinks and cigarettes. Everything you bring will be consumed or exchanged for useful information. You should know when to skip a meal, when to turn trouble into a joke and be relaxed in impossible moments. Learn not to show emotions and don't be fussy about anything. Be ready to sleep in basements, eager to walk and work surrounded by danger. Give up all your former habits. Use the telephone when it works, laugh when it doesn't. You'll laugh a lot. Despise, don't hate." -Sarajevo Survival Guide by Miroslav Prstojecis for FAMA

Hamu, the accordion player.

Hamu, the accordion player is famous in Bosnia. There are stories of hearing his music and his wailing as he plays from blocks away all over Bosnia. There are accounts of his music being heard since he was just a young boy. He still is a young boy, which must only mean he's been at this since the day he could span his fingers across the keys. He will play for change, for cherries, or for nothing he will still sit on the streets and play.

[Non] Fiction

Before going to Sarajevo, I had an idea in my head of what it would be like. It went something along the lines of carnivals, Beirut playing in the mountains, and Gogol Bordello following me down the street along with other gypsies tagging along. I know I was crazy, but I still had the little hope that Sarajevo would really be like that. It is founded a lot off of this Serbian 1998 film titled Black Cat, White Cat in which, basically all of the above happens. [Note: Serbia and Bosnia are neighbors, once together under the name of Yugoslavia] I knew that it was only a movie, but still having hope as I did find a carnival and get followed by gypsies and accordions and to top the cake, this man asked me to photograph him and it looks like a scene from the film. So perhaps I wasn't completely crazy for thinking the way I did.

War Child

"They call me war kid. I love war. I love guns and war games like Ultimate Conquest. I am war kid. I hate _____. I want to kill all of them. In Bosnia here all we want is peace."
-Kenan, 14 years old, a lover, not a fighter, but really a fighter.

8pm-10am

Next time I make Sarajevo my home, I plan on living between 8pm and 10am, that is when the city is the nicest.

A man named Tito [a short story]

There once was a man named Tito. Josip Brz Tito. If there has ever been a man that was loved by a country, it was Tito. As he lived, Yugoslavia was united and happy. Houses, cars, and jobs were raffled off to the people and a group who had various religious and cultural backgrounds were able to come together in one name. Tito died in 1980. A few years later as tensions grew, Yugoslavia broke out with war and broke apart. Tensions are still there, thirty years and wars between Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia later. There is on thing that still unifies the groups, and that is a love for Tito. His pictures are everywhere, his name spray painted on walls, and the older generations that remember him fondly talk of how wonderful of a leader he was.

Dubioza Kolektiv, 4 June 2010

I realize this concert was a really long time ago, nearly 3 months ago, but at least I finally put these pictures up, right? These pictures were taken at a Dubioza Kolektiv concert at Skenderija that I went to with Marysia. I met her at a protest and ended up going to this concert with her the night I decided that I was going to stay longer. It was probably one of the funner nights I had and the music was fantastic. So if you get a chance, check them out, and if you ever hear about them touring near you, go, they put on a fantastic show.

A Contrast of Interiors

A restaurant and a shop, the first in Mostar the second in Sarajevo. Donor kebab is the only food served in this store, thus the picture of the only served menu item. The only difference is small, medium, or large; salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and a yogurt sauce for variety. The shop is ran by a man would would talk to me for hours about the Soviet cameras for sale, piled in a basket along with trinkets from Tito's reign of former Yugoslavia.

The girl who feeds the cats

"I feed the cats because if I do not, no one else will."

-Ines, 7th grade, Sarajevo.

no. 4 [gypsies]

No. 4
The gypsies were in the garden again last night.

Asymetrical Home

A home in the neighborhood next door. Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Mostar Mannequins

It took me nearly three weeks to leave Sarajevo and start exploring other parts of Bosnia. I got really attached really fast and had a hard time leaving. I finally got further than just 30 minutes outside of the city and went to Mostar, planning on staying for a week and travel to various other surrounding areas as well as Croatia and Slovenia. Having my bag packed for a week, I took off. Mostar is a split city. One side Muslim the other Catholic with only a bridge to connect the two sides. During the war the bridge was destroyed, fifteen years ago. It was not re-completed until just four years ago. Needless to say, the tensions between the two sides are strong. Walking around, I did not feel more comfortable on either side and after some really bad encounters with people there, my week long trip lasted 4 hours until I took the last bus out for Međugorje.
This mannequin is from a bridal shop in a store front on the Muslim side of Mostar. It really made me laugh at the time because even the mannequins were destroyed, missing fingers, and having disheveled hair. It was kind of how I felt after only spending four hours there. Nearly everyone else I talked to loved Mostar. Perhaps I just had a bad experience or since I didn't go with anyone else I was more in danger. Whatever it was that made me feel bad energy, I left feeling much like this mannequin looked.

Man under siege/the bridge.

Man in a suit, sitting on a slab of cardboard underneath the bridge I cross to get to Sarajevo from the suburb of Ilidža. He told me stories and stories as I sat by the river next to him, none of which I could understand due to a language barrier. I could not get his name because he could not hear me asking, he went deaf because of the bombs dropping during the war.

Store fronts and window shoppers

The them is tights, which seems to be the theme of many shops. Just about every shop displays a wonderful variety; however, when you go to purchase, check inside the box, many times a different (and more boring) variety and size is inside. It's tricky, but the amazing tights do exist in Bosnia.

no. 3 [fancy]

No. 3
My life and friendships have become a lot fancier, I have had to learn to eat shrimp and veal.

Carnival: Sarajevo.

Carnival for a reason I could not figure out, but it was fun nonetheless. My favorite was on one side of the swing ride was "Hotel Sarajevo" and on the other side was communist block housing. I found it interesting the juxtaposition of the carnival ride with each of those things.

no. 2 [wolves]

No. 2

The dogs howled all night in competition with the neighboring wolves.

Dog.

Stretching.

Streets and Taxis

No. 1
If you find the international art school, go to the top where the film program is located, continue on up some stairs, crawl through a window and turn a corner, this is what you will see: rows of cars down narrow streets of Austro-Hungarian architecture pocked with holes from war.

No. 2
They say if you are going to take a taxi in Sarajevo, that Sarajevo Taxi is the only trustworthy company in town. I found Samir i Emir as well as every other service to be just as good. It's like the conflict with Serbia and Croatia, there are good people and bad people everywhere, you cannot hate one whole group, just the bad people. Taxis are less serious, however.

Hip Hop Girls, Sarajevo

"We're into hip hop. There aren't many beautiful things here because we're used to it, once we are done with school we hope to leave this place. There are not many hip hop people here, everyone thinks we're crazy for it. We just love the style of everyone."
-Džemeta & Adma, fifteen years old.
Photo taken while they were taking pictures with a friend's camera phone in a park in Sarajevo.