Bosnian photographer scoops photo prize with unflinching look at former Yugoslavia
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
Image: Vedad Diviovic
20 February 2018
Text
Katie Marie Davies
Bosnian photographer Vedad Diviovic was born as the former Yugoslav Republic crumbled. Now his latest photo series, Jesus, the Yugoslavs and the Creation of the World, explores national identity in a once united region, detailing the seven independent states that formed after Yugoslavia collapsed.
His work has won him the latest #FotoRoomOPEN prize, run in collaboration with top German photo agency OSTKREUZ. The organisation is now set to represent Diviovic’s work on the international photography market.
Despite documenting the proud nationalism of each new republic, Diviovic treated the area as a united whole, using repeated motifs and images to underscore the region’s lost collective identity. The individual location of each image can only be found at the end of the book.
“Why and how do we build borders in our heads?” Diviovic told Fotoroom. “I hope [people] think about the banality of nationalism and division, and how easy it is to manipulate people and foster hate.”
To see more of Diviovic’s work, visit his website by clicking here.