From 1991 to 1999, a series of wars devastated Yugoslavia. Alexandra covered this conflict, she wrote : « I covered the conflict to the point of disgust. I saw the same hysteria at work, again and again, as the Serbs tried to put their grip on the republics that wanted to separate from Yugoslavia. For almost ten years, I accompanied thousands of people to the cemetery. (...) Along the way, my vision of humanity became darker and so many atrocities made me aware of the presence of the devil on earth. »
On February 24, 2022, war broke out in Ukraine. When I saw these images of fleeing civilians, crammed into buses and on roads, buildings on fire, lives blown apart and reduced to ashes, I was disturbed by the similarity between Sandra's images and these. So close in their horror.
Why go to war? This is a question I have always asked myself. I don't think I've ever known the world at peace, although wars often seem to have passed or to be far away. I thought, probably utopianly, that history had already shown us the atrocity of conflicts, and that we would have learned from it. It's sad to see history repeat itself, it's beyond and it serves our throats
In « The Plague », Albert Camus writes: "When a war breaks out, people say, 'It won't last, it's too stupid. "And no doubt a war is certainly too stupid, but that does not prevent it from lasting. Stupidity always insists, one would realize this if one did not always think of oneself.".
What is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy. We are all concerned by the return of peace, I do not believe in the speech according to which we can do nothing at our level. Let's read, listen, observe history, become aware of our universality and not forget that freedom is never accepted. It is defended.
"It all began when I was 27 years old, and my view of the world was still that of a teenager. My vocation as a photographer, which I inherited from my father, had never confronted me with death or violence, and war had only an abstract value for me," said Sandra. Her photographs in Yugoslavia summarize, in my eyes, all the injustice of a war. The consequences of a war are concrete and its first victims are the people. Sandra has always managed to capture this, the humanity of a war, its concrete value. This exhibition pays homage to civilians, to those men and women suddenly taken by surprise by the violence. It also pays tribute to journalists, I believe in the importance of information. Without them, without their courage and their desire to show the truth of the world, we would not be able to confront both the joys and the violence of what surrounds us.
