mattsson_280

This story begins long after it has already happened. When it no longer causes burning pain. But the pain is still there under the surface. It pulsates and can burst at any time. You must be still. Completely still. Barely breathing.

 

This autumn, marks 15 years since the Dayton agreement was signed by the then Presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. An agreement that eventually brought an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina – a war that divided people and created borders that a few years earlier could not have been imagined.

 

This is my story about the people who remained after the war. Left with the search for belonging in a place that was once for everybody. We meet in the city of Sarajevo, which is located in the heart of the wondrously beautiful country of Bosnia. 15 years later.

 

A city submerged between lush green mountains where the snipers once lay and took aim at the life that barely moved on the streets. Today it is calm and quiet up here and the air is easy to breathe. Not many venture here, where mines still lie hidden and serve as a reminder to the horror that once choked the city.

Emma Mattsson

 

http://emmattsson.se/