Countries and Peoples

Photo tour of Western Balkans

Today is Canada Day.  Local fireworks have started. Too soon as expectations are difficult to subdue; you really need to wait until after 10 pm in the evening; here, in the Canadian capital, July 1st is almost a white night. With the sound of celebratory fire-crackers and colorful rockets in the background, I am writing this blog with mixed feelings.

I want to introduce an amazing series of photographs of countries and peoples of the Western Balkans, countries that once were all one country, my homeland. The camera lens is of my Chinese-Canadian friend, observant, subtle and funky. The fireworks and blasts of celebrations in the background could have been something else, easily, in my memory…

We are grounded in our history and culture, yet we all belong to the universe. Peoples are both different and the same – a humanity. I love my adopted country yet I can’t stop mourning after my lost homeland. It is brought back to me, memories flushing, through expressive photos of its places and inhabitants by a modern traveler, complemented by a soulful, gentle voice of a Spanish singer weaving a parallel story of a Turkish traveler through these same lands many centuries ago. A crossroad of the turbulent past and present, cultures and civilizations…a snapshot of a precarious time in piece, a glympse of a generation living in a flash amongst centuries.

‘Each viewing brings another gift, seeing Balkans trough an eye of a true artist. Thank you‘…Lois

Always surprises me that the others, not so deeply tied to these lands as I am, can ‘feel’ them in the same way – art is our power!

You can also flip through these photos in an interactive book format.

Countries and Peoples