The story of me as a photographer starts on the day my parents knew they had to leave our small village or be killed, and the first thing my father took with him were our family photographs. For years, the only physical link I had to my ancestral homeland were our photo albums and their power over my memory.
In 1991, our country fractured and fell into the worst conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Millions of people lost their homes and their identities overnight, and among them were my parents, my sister and myself. Nearly twenty years later, I have made several trips to our vanished country to reconcile personal identity and ethnic roots. During these trips, I have been overcome by the obsession of not forgetting what happened in that place, of not being forgotten by the world. This has culminated in the photos that will be framed and hung in D-Beatstro in January.
To me, photography has always been about feeling. When I use my camera, I take photos of how I am feeling in that moment, in order to understand that moment more deeply, in order to record my human life. When I first began taking photos over five years ago, I realized it was the most powerful tool I had to preserve my memories and my youth, and to understand my life through time better-- to leave a mark, to tell the greatest story I could create: my own life.
Petra Vojnic
Immigrant Punk Photographyhttps://www.facebook.com/immigrantpunkphotography
We Invite you out on the evening of January 8th from 7pm-10pm to celebrate the opening reception of Immigrant Punk Photography
January 8th - January 31st
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