On the occasion of the War Childhood Museum’s 8th anniversary, we presented a special exhibition in collaboration with the renowned photographer Milomir Kovačević Strašni—a friend of the Museum and one of the most important chroniclers of Sarajevo’s wartime life.
Titled Children of War, People of Peace, the exhibition featured 101 diptychs pairing photographs of children taken during the siege of Sarajevo with recent portraits of the same individuals as adults. During the war, Strašni captured everyday moments of childhood under siege, revealing the complexity of life in extraordinary circumstances. Decades later, he reconnected with many of the people he once photographed—this time as adults, each with their own unique path, shaped by their experiences.
”This project has been in the making for years. Back in 2016, there was an exhibition called Children in War at the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After that, many people started reaching out. They wanted to meet, to talk. I started reconnecting with people I had photographed during the war—asking if they’d like to be photographed again, ideally in the same place. The first was my friend Džafer, who asked during the war if I could photograph him with his nephews. Then, after the war, it just so happened that we ran into each other on the street right when his nephews were visiting, so I took the photo. After that, I kept on shooting.
Milomir Kovačević Strašni
Preserving Memory Through Exhibition
Through this exhibition, the War Childhood Museum continues its mission: preserving memory, fostering empathy, and encouraging reflection on the past as a foundation for building a more peaceful future.
Children of War, People of Peace was open from March 29 to April 3, 2025 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo.
On the occasion of the opening, Strašni—who now lives in Paris and returned to Sarajevo for this exhibition—shared his thoughts in a conversation with the War Childhood Museum. You can read that conversation here.
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