05/04/2020
Sarajevo | 1992 - 1996.
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_dormiveglia_
the space that stretches between sleeping and waking
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on this day in 1992, the Siege of began. the longest siege on a capital city in modern history. nearly 4 years of daily bombing and shelling by Serb forces. 50,000+ injured. 11,541 killed, 1,601 of them children. 2 million+ priceless books and manuscripts burned in an attempt to erase & rewrite Bosnia’s history. the literal and figurative roads connecting people and communities destroyed, the very fabric of the city changed forever. migration, displacement, diaspora, identities renegotiated. a trauma that persists into the now - wearing many, many faces.
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it’s a strange thing to reflect on the Siege of Sarajevo from the comfortable confines of quarantine living. surreal parallel realities. a few weeks indoors (with all our walls and electricity standing) have us stir-crazy. imagine years? 😳
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and still, the citizens of this city defeated an army more powerful than them by degrees of magnitude. it’s remarkable. honestly, if the spirit of Sarajevo could be bottled it would prove the right kind of vaccine for what ails us. theirs is a resilience so full, so breathtaking and unassuming.
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they set up clandestine theatres and makeshift schools and digging underground tunnels and resisted & resisted.
creative thinkers and everyday hero’s doing the impossible, armed with dark humor and grit.
facing -20 winters and 45+ summers, broken windows letting in the elements.
the uncertainty of surviving another tomorrow, another yesterday.
on a diet of canned UN food, leftovers from Vietnam and WW2 so stale the cats barely touch it.
quick funerals in city parks under the cover of night.
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and yet they persisted, and here they are, and what a gift to the world that is 🌱❤️
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“how can one not go to Sarajevo? it’s a privilege to have been in Sarajevo. I didn’t want to leave Sarajevo. I’m going back this summer to Sarajevo.” ~ Susan Sontag
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so glad i found you. thank you for choosing me. and gratitude for the pure pleasure of sharing you with others. hasta la próxima inshallah @ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina