Landscapes of Anxiety - Bosnia 2021
Bosnia Herzegovina became the new route for hundreds of refugees and displaced people trying to reach the European Union. But Croatia, like Hungary, restricts passage and people are trapped on the Bosnian side of the border.
Algerians, Moroccans, Afghans, Pakistanis and Iranians are some of the nationalities that are repeated among the ragged ones who have managed to escape and reach Bosnia. Here they improvise temporary shelters: uninhabited houses, old abandoned factories, even shelters run by international organizations where they shelter for a few days the dream of crossing Croatia and making the dangerous route of the forests that – according to what they suppose – derives in Italy, France or Spain.
Temporary shelters are transformed into «areas where life passes, illusion and frustration occur, where joy and pain are experienced in their daily lives». Places where the past, the present and the future merge and become confused: sometimes they restart their wanderings and try to cross into another country – the refuge becomes the past – but they are often captured and deported – they return to the same place, although in a more vulnerable present. They spend weeks, even months, planning the next step — in a future that gets out of hand.