Accession Number
2016/2.503

Title
Bosnian-Muslim Displaced Refugees, Croatia, 1995

Artist(s)
Peter Turnley

Object Creation Date
1995

Medium & Support
archival pigment print on paper

Dimensions
20 in x 24 in (50.8 cm x 60.96 cm);13 ¼ in x 20 in (33.66 cm x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of David and Jennifer Kieselstein

Subject matter
In this photograph, two children (identified as Bosnian-Muslim refugees living in Croatia) are swinging and smiling amid the rubble of a destroyed building. The stark juxtaposition of play and destruction in the image testifies to the traumatic experiences though ultimate resilience of these children. Bosnian Serbs targeted and massacred Bosnian Muslims in the early 1990s as part of an "ethnic cleansing" agenda. NATO finally intervened in the conflict in 1995 and ordered a ceasefire. During the decades of the 1990s, Peter Turnley traveled widely through the Balkans and a number of nations in the Middle East, including Turkey and Iraq, to photograph refugees of various concurrent conflicts. 

Physical Description
A black-and-white image of two children playing among a ruined, roofless structure and rubble. One child is swinging on a rope while the other watches.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Primary Object Type
black and white print

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
children (people by age group)
refugees
rubble
ruins
swings