MILOMIR KOVAČEVIĆ, MORE THAN A PHOTOGRAPHER

Milomir Kovačević is no ordinary photographer. He is a photographer witness - a chronicler of our consciences. He is a documentary filmmaker who keeps the image of the world from disappearing, from transience. Its habitus is Bosnia and Herzegovina. He grew up in her, he came to terms with her, he testified about her. And when he travels the world, when he lives outside it, he collects it - the way a picture broken into pieces is collected and assembled. All the traumas of the world are contained in Bosnia. And all hope.

Biography:

Milomir Kovačević began his photographic work at University Club of Photography (CEDUS) in Sarajevo. Early in his career he mainly focuses on capturing images of Sarajevo’s urban and cultural life. First press photographer for several local magazines, he fled from the beginning the ephemeral and sensational images. It is the depth and beauty that sign the photographs that made his reputation, whether in prisons, the pilgrimage to Međugorje, with supporters of the Sarajevo football club, in the windows and on the walls of the city, or during the last day of the republic... In the early 1990s, his work reflects the profound changes occurring in the Yugoslavian society. First democratic elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, general meetings of nationalists, peace demonstrations ... Milomir Kovačević now established a unique and recognizable style.

From 1992, he is at the heart of the drama that will make infamous Sarajevo: the war. He tirelessly photograph the city and the people, the tragedy, absurdity, hope, Milomir sublimes life in a dying era. In 1995, Milomir Kovačević arrived in Paris where he continued his work and adds new meetings, experiences, exhibitions. In 1998 he was awarded the CCF Foundation (now HSBC) for his series of photographs of the Yugoslavian prisons. Milomir Kovačević is the photographer of balance. War and peace, life and death, past and present, eternity and time, substance and form, nothing escapes the eye of Milomir, who can detect a share of serenity in the most brutal violence, and vice versa. It is also the perfection of its frames (photos by Milomir are never cropped) that makes photographs by Milomir Kovačević so complete, so perfect.

He received numerous awards and was made a Knight of the National Order of Merit for his work and commitment by President Chirac in 2007.

For his artistic work, he received Šestoaprilska nagrada grada Sarajeva (the 6 Aprile award of the city of Sarajevo) 2016, and Nagrada festivala Modul Memorije (the Festival Award Memory Module) 2019.