{"id":209824,"date":"2016-12-22T14:43:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T13:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/?p=209824"},"modified":"2019-12-02T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T09:50:11","slug":"gradska-galerija-bihac-12-27-12-2016-izlozba-fotografija-rat-sjecanja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/gradska-galerija-bihac-12-27-12-2016-izlozba-fotografija-rat-sjecanja\/","title":{"rendered":"City Gallery Biha\u0107, 12-27.12.2016. exhibition \u201cWar of Memories\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Repression and forgetting are not the way to peace<\/strong>
\nThe opening of the exhibition \u201cWar of Memories\u201d organised by the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade in the City Gallery of Biha\u0107 completed this year\u2019s presentation of photographs depicting marked and unmarked sites of suffering from the recent war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n

From the Sarajevo Vije\u0107nica, the Croatian Lodge Herceg Stjepan Kosa\u010da in Mostar and the Music Pavilion Staklenac in Banja Luka, to the final exhibition in Biha\u0107, the photographs were accompanied by a publication of the same title, and all are the result of extensive research under the project \u201cWar Monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1991\u201d.
\nWithout seeking to relativise culpability, and in the spirit of peacebuilding in our post-conflict region, this exhibition offered a cathartic experience and communication with varied audiences, including the war veterans CNA has been working with for years.
\nOne of the conclusions issuing from a series of discussions during the exhibitions, in light of the current wars raging in other parts of the world, implies the need for better communication about a war-ravaged past. Exhibitions such as the \u201cWar of Memories\u201d can be a good catalyst for dialogue about the past, because suppression and forgetting are not the way to peace.
\nThe exhibition in Biha\u0107 was opened by Katarina Mili\u0107evi\u0107, a representative of the Centre for Nonviolent Action, and on behalf of the host city, the visitors were addressed by Ilda Alibegovi\u0107 who pointed out the importance of exhibitions such as this one and the messages they send, as well as the efforts of organisations such as CNA that far surpass their duties. She also expressed the hope that similar experiences would never be repeated.
\n\u201cWe all know that there are three truths that live alongside each other, and three victims, but the intention of the exhibition is for us to find a common truth. Truth is reconciliation,\u201d said Alibegovi\u0107.
\nDavorka Turk, a member of the CNA team, spoke about the past twenty years of activities of the regional peace organisation, the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade, foregrounding its intention to constructively contribute to dealing with the past through peace education, publishing, video production and daily work with war veterans.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sites of suffering are all around us<\/strong>
\nThe large format photographs presented at the exhibition, 51 of them in total, as well as additional photos, can be viewed on the website \u00a0kulturasjecanja.org<\/a> and are the work of Nenad Vukosavljevi\u0107 and Ned\u017ead Horozovi\u0107, peace activists and members of the CNA team.
\n\u201cThe idea for the exhibition started with joint visits by war veterans to sites of suffering. Having visited sites of suffering, we decided to document them and allow the public to see them in order to show what is being silenced in our societies and what is being kept out of sight.
\nDuring one of our joint visits to sites of suffering, a war veteran who was a guest during that visit in that city expressed his disapproval of how the monument looked. The host responded,\u00a0 \u201cWell, you know, when we were making it, we didn\u2019t think you would come to visit.\u201d
\n\u201cFor our research, we visited 85 sites of suffering. While we were photographing one such site, a man cam by and asked us what we were doing. We explained, and he told us he was a former prisoner from the camp that used to be located there. Sites of suffering are all around us.
\nIt is common for monuments to clearly demarcate the boundaries between ethnic groups, between us and them, between us as victims and them as perpetrators, and there is no room for pain or empathy that traverse those boundaries. This can serve as a warning, but it can also give rise to righteous indignation. The beginning of constructive dialogue can be the answer to the question that each of us should seek, namely, what is a fair attitude towards the past,\u201d said Ned\u017ead Horozovi\u0107 at the opening of the exhibition in Biha\u0107.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Does remembering contribute to peacebuilding?<\/strong>
\nNenad Vukosavljevi\u0107 expressed a similar opinion when he mentioned how all sides maintain that \u201cwe must not forget\u201d.
\n\u201cI wonder what it is that must not be forgotten? Usually they say we must not forget that the enemy is close by. This is what we wanted to discuss; what is it that we remember and does it contribute to peacebuilding? We wanted to dispel insecurity and fear, because these thwart freedom.
\nWe often hear that we are dealing with the consequences, not the causes. The ways to get there may be up for debate, but our aim is to allow people to view events from the past from different perspectives.
\nThere was this colonel at one of our events. He spoke in praise of Mladi\u0107 and would not be dissuaded by our criticism. I thought about it and suggested we should exclude him from our activities. My colleagues said he should stay. It was a big lesson for me.
\nSome five or six years later, when we were organising the first joint visit of war veterans from all three sides to the Memorial in Poto\u010dari, at our preparatory meeting, he said, \u201cI\u2019ve already been there. I was passing by and decided to visit. I wanted to see it for myself. It left an impression on me.\u201d
\nDuring the joint veterans\u2019 visit, he stepped in front of the cameras and said, \u201cI am ashamed on behalf of the RS Army for what was done here.\u201d This speaks to the possibilities and the fact that nothing is unchangeable. This is the kind of release that we all need. I hope this exhibition will be a small contribution in that direction,\u201d said Vukosavljevi\u0107.<\/p>\n

The exhibition certainly contributed to a collective sense of release and sent a message about the necessity of dialogue and the need to promote a culture of nonviolence, which has been the basic mission of the Centre for Nonviolent Action for the past twenty years.
\nDealing with the past is painful. It requires engagement and openness. Under conditions of economic poverty where citizens are easy prey for political manipulation, we are even more obligated to speak about our past in order to understand our present and in order to build a future together. In peace, without violence. By not being permanently focused on the enemy and by respecting all victims. So that it never happens again.<\/p>\n

Following its successful\u00a0 \u201ctour\u201d through our recent past in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the start of next year, the \u201cWar of Memories\u201d exhibition will be presented to a Belgrade audience.<\/p>\n

A summary of the monograph is available at http:\/\/nenasilje.org\/publikacije\/pdf\/Rat_sjecanja.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final exhibition in 2016. Presentation of the photographs and publication \u201cWar of Memories\u201d in Bosnia and Herzegovina opened in Biha\u0107<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":220131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,73],"tags":[1235,1838,2268,1692],"class_list":["post-209824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","category-promo","tag-bihac-en","tag-commemoration-en","tag-culture-of-remembrance","tag-remembrance-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226259,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209824\/revisions\/226259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}