Bosnia, 1995
Head held high, walking with dignity, Meliha Varesanovic defies Bosnian Serb Sniper bullets and mortar fire in high heels, pearls and a smart floral dress in the Dobrinja neighborhood of Sarajevo, June 1995.
During the siege of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovnia more than 10,600 people were killed and 56,00 wounded, many maimed or invalided for life.
“I didn’t carry my weapons but I did fight- with my defiance, my dignity, my refusal to run- with all these things I fought.
My behavior and way of dressing was my way of saying to the gunmen ‘You will never win!’
Tom Stoddart’s images encompass movements so fluid that they barely seem stationary. They enforce public thought and opinion, often capturing moments of emotional intensity as well as historical and cultural strife. Such provocations require a space within Humanity, as Stoddart’s pictures pair everyday occurrences with heavy concepts. A STROLL embodies these principles wholeheartedly, posing a lovely and nonchalant pearl-wearing Meliha Varesanovic adjacent to a gun-clutching Serbian soldier. Meliha employs a unique form of bravery: the act of being unabashedly true to oneself even in the face of friction.