About me
Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I moved to America with my family in 1997 after the Bosnian war and grew up in Bowling Green, KY, where I stayed and earned my BA in photojournalism at Western Kentucky University.
After college, I began exploring the stories of some of the 6000 other Bosnian refugees living in Bowling Green. Just when I thought that the Bosnian war was becoming our past, I met the women who are still affected by it. They still wait for their loved ones to be found and identified from the many mass graves that still exist in Bosnia. Fueled by their desire to seek closure and my interest in helping them communicate their stories, I decided to return to my native Bosnia in 2010 to photograph the lingering effects of war – mass graves and the search for closure.
On July 11, 2011, my work was exhibited in the US Congress Building for the 16th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.
My work has been supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sports in Sarajevo, Zaka Khan Foundation New York, and the Bosnian Islamic Center in Kentucky. I’ve been awarded two grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. My work was also recognized by the Hearst-National Competition in Photography. But without the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina my project wouldn’t have been possible. During the summer of 2009 and 2010, I taught photojournalism at Western Kentucky University as part of the Dow Jones Workshop.
In the summer of 2011, I had the honor to organize and host the American workshop, Truth With A Camera, in my hometown Zenica.
I am currently in Bosnia, working with various non-profit organizations, slowly showing the power of photojournalism here. I am trying to finish my project on the affects of the genocide, and I plan to return to US. I received a scholarship to do my Master’s in photojournalism at the Ohio University. Your support to finish my project is appreciated by purchasing prints or by financially supporting.