Long road ahead

 

The project "A long road ahead" consists of photographs of my grandfather Ilija, whose story begins 90 years ago, on St. Ilija’s Day, when he was born to my great-grandmother Sofija, after whom I am named. He was born in Kupirovo, in Lika, and although he spent his working life living and working in Belgrade, fate brought him back to Croatia in the early 1990s. There, in 1995, he and his family and friends became refugees during the operation Storm.
He was the first to return to Kupirovo with my grandmother Ljubica, and since then, he has returned every year. By following his life, the changes over the days and years, I decided to tell his story and the story of his homeland.
My photographs feature his yard and his forest, empty paradise-like landscapes. Despite frequent hardships, in which my grandfather’s home was burned and destroyed, his life’s journey is marked by a constant return to the places that carry the weight of memories from the past.
Through layering his portrait, I navigate the boundary between the known and unknown, light and shadow, revealing parts he shares with me and attempting to uncover those parts he deeply conceals, hoping to get closer to his essence. My grandfather is in the forest, where shadows and darkness dwell, with overgrown and difficult-to-travel paths hiding secrets, preventing them from being approached. He wanders in the misty depths of the past, with no sincere desire to leave them. The photograph of him entering the dark room symbolizes the penetration into darkness, into the subconscious.
This visual journey depicts the changes in him and his homeland through time — a homeland that, despite the complete devastation, remains a part of his identity and spiritual heritage. A human journey through life, like my grandfather’s, is often filled with a return to places that carry the emotions of past generations and are an indelible trace of history in one family.
"Let’s go, there’s still a long way to go."