On a plane to Lanzarote I read again A fortune teller told me, by Tiziano Terzani. Speaking with Francesca (my partner in crime), we thought it would be interesting to take a trip, like Terzani on that occasion, traveling only by land and in a part of the world we didn't know yet. We immediately chose the Balkans: a harsh land, capable of glimpses of great beauty and charm, on which the ghosts of the Yugoslav wars still linger. We also wrote a book, Where the Balkans begin, whose final paragraph conveys also the meaning of the photographic project:
“Yet life and the waters of the Neretva continue to flow under the Stari Most, bringing with them impalpable transformations and, while the charming chant of the muezzin spreads through the air, we hope that Mostar bridge may one day become, like the one on the Drina described by Andrić, like the wing of Allah’s angel, spread out to unite the inhabitants of the two banks above the abyss dug by the devil.”
Works
The project required slight adjustments in post-production because I wanted to show post-war moods: cold, almost metal colors, which highlight the few elements of each shot; strong outlines and deep shadows, which help the observer understand each shot on a compositional level.
© Alessandra Repossi