The Balkans

The Balkans are a geographical and historical area with intense diversity. Here, different peoples, languages, religions and traditions meet, who, despite the conflicts and confrontations of the past, share common experiences, values and cultural expressions and have formed a special, common cultural identity. Among the Balkans there is a sense of intimacy that is due not only to their shared historical and religious experiences but also to shared traditions, culture, landscapes, sounds, music, images…

The Balkan countries often juggle between their socialist past and Orthodox tradition, nationalism is often revived, but at the same time they are part of modern globalized society. They want to be part of Europe but they cannot give up their Balkan identity and soul, a genuine and authentic soul. With memories still vivid and traces of the intense upheavals of the recent past visible, they search for the rhythms of everyday life. A simple but often surreal everyday life, as if taken from a Kusturica film…

This mosaic of intense contrasts can only enchant the photographer who attempts to record and immortalize moments, faces, expressions, gestures, chance encounters and unexpected happenings, fragments of life charged with a new meaning. Few are the moments when one’s eye, mind and heart align and then remarkable photos ensue. But even in cases when results are poor, it is this journey, this human contact, this process of creation that gives the greatest joy and constitutes the greatest and most substantial affirmation of life.