Hope Out of Hardship (Salgado #3)

The Republic of Yugoslavia broke up as a result of many political upheavals in the 1990s. Conflicts broke out around the region as the separate factions fought for both independence and control. One of the most significant was the Bosnian War. Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic wanted to annex Bosnian territory to create a “Greater Serbia.” The Croats and Muslims living in Bosnia called for independence. The Bosnian Serbs attacked and massacred thousands of civilians in what later would be deemed genocide. While the actual number of casualties remains unknown, it is estimated that over 100,000 died during this war. They also used rape as a military tactic; around 50,000 girls and women were raped during this time period. Approximately 2.2 million people fled from the destruction and horror that existed in their country. This has been described as the worst conflict in Eurpoe since World War II.

Salgado documented one of these Bosnian refugee camps in his photographs. Around 16,000 refugees lived in the camp in Turanj, Croatia. The buildings were in ruins after the 1991 battle that occurred there. At first glace, this Salgado photograph does not appear like much. Just a crinkled and torn piece of plastic over a window to attempt to keep out the cold. Then you see them. The ghosts of faces, barely visible. Two women and a child stare out at their world—their lives changed forever.

This subject particularly hits at home for me. My friend Petar Mirkovic and his family left Bosnia in 1995. “It was a very hard life after the war. The government became corrupt and hard for people to make a living. That’s why my parents moved to the United States,” Petar told me in a text message. Their family lived in Austria until they were able to move to the United States. Petar was seven years old. Neither one of his parents spoke English. Though the road was not an easy one, they adjusted to life here and became US citizens in 2007. You can read the article here: http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/content/six-years-after-coming-mitchell-bosnian-family-gains-us-citizenship. 

Salgado only captures the ruin of refugees in his photographs; it is up to us to see beyond that. Too often I avoid the newspaper in order to evade the pain and cruelty of the current world. But I just need to change my perspective. I need to see the beauty amongst the devastation. I need to see the hope out of the hardship. Petar and his family's story helps me to do this. They give me hope.

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"Major Causes of the War." The Bosnian War. Mount Holyoke College, Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~bonne20s/causes.html>.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. 1994. Photograph. New York: Aperture Foundation, Inc., 2000. 120-121. Print. 

Salgado, Sebastiao. Migrations. 1994. Pamphlet. New York: Aperture Foundation, Inc., 2000. 9. Print.

Tabeau, Ewa, and Jan Zwierzchowski. "The 1992-95 War in Bosnia and Herzegovina." International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. United Nations, 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/bih_casualty_undercount_conf_paper_100201.pdf>.