Scars
Paul Lowe
A wounded civilian is carried to safety by UN soldiers after a mortar attack; a couple embrace lovingly on a terrace overlooking Sarajevo; the body of an old man is exhumed from a shallow grave whilst his daughter looks on; a refugee returns to his home for the first time in eight years.
Preview
The presence of death is felt in Paul Lowe’s photographs: war and its terrors are evoked in images notable for their stillness, reminding us that exploding buildings and screaming faces are only the most obvious ways of showing devastation. But here is life too, for the Bosnians have survived, mourned and moved forward. “Scars” is an exhibition to accompany the publication of the book “Bosnians”. The photographs document ten years of the suffering and rebirth of Bosnia, tracing the horrors of the war and post-war reconstruction, but also the spirit and tenacity of its people, and their utter refusal to give up their humanity in the face of appalling evil.
