Ziyah Gafić: Everyday objects, tragic histories

Translator: Klavdija Cernilogar Reviewer: Andreja Benčina

These are simple objects:

To so preprosti predmeti:

clocks, keys, combs, glasses.

ure, ključi, glavniki, očala.

They are the things the victims of genocide in Bosnia

Žrtve genocida v Bosni

carried with them on their final journey.

so jih imele s seboj na zadnji poti.

We are all familiar with these mundane,

Vsi poznamo te običajne

everyday objects.

in vsakdanje predmete.

The fact that some of the victims carried

Da so nekatere od žrtev osebne predmete;

personal items such as toothpaste and a toothbrush

na primer zobno pasto in zobno ščetko,

is a clear sign they had no idea

jasno kaže, da niso imele pojma, kaj se bo z njimi zgodilo.

what was about to happen to them.

Usually, they were told that they were going to be

Ponavadi so jim dejali,

exchanged for prisoners of war.

da jih bodo zamenjali za vojne ujetnike.

These items have been recovered

Te predmete so našli po številnih množičnih grobiščih v moji domovini.

from numerous mass graves across my homeland,

and as we speak, forensics are exhuming bodies

Še danes forenziki odkrivajo trupla v novo odkritih množičnih grobiščih.

from newly discovered mass graves,

20 years after the war.

Dvajset let po vojni.

And it is quite possibly the largest ever discovered.

Verjetno gre za največja grobišča odkrita doslej.

During the four years of conflict

Med štiriletnim konfliktom,

that devastated the Bosnian nation in the early '90s,

ki je pretresel Bosno v zgodnjih 90. letih,

approximately 30,000 citizens, mainly civilians,

je izginilo okoli 30.000 ljudi, predvsem civilistov,

went missing, presumed killed,

verjetno so bili ubiti,

and another 100,000 were killed

še 100.000 pa jih je umrlo v bojnih operacijah.

during combat operations.

Most of them were killed

Večina jih je umrla bodisi v prvih dneh vojne,

either in the early days of the war

or towards the end of the hostilities,

bodisi proti njenemu koncu,

when U.N. safe zones like Srebrenica

ko so varna območja OZN, kot je Srebrenica,

fell into the hands of the Serb army.

padla v roke srbske vojske.

The international criminal tribunal

Mednarodno sodišče za vojne zločine je številne obtožence obsodilo

delivered a number of sentences

for crimes against humanity and genocide.

za zločine proti človeštvu in genocid.

Genocide is a systematic and deliberate

Genocid je sistematično in namerno uničenje

destruction of a racial, political, religious

rasne, politične, verske ali etnične skupine.

or ethnic group.

As much as genocide is about killing.

Pri genocidu gre tako za ubijanje

It is also about destroying their property,

kot za uničevanje lastnine, kulturne dediščine

their cultural heritage,

and ultimately the very notion that they ever existed.

ter končno same ideje, da je nekdo obstajal.

Genocide is not only about the killing;

Genocid ne pomeni samo ubijanja,

it is about the denied identity.

pomeni zanikanje identitete.

There are always traces —

Vedno ostanejo sledi.

no such thing as a perfect crime.

Ni popolnega zločina.

There are always remnants of the perished ones

Stvari, ki ostanejo za umrlimi, so trajnejše od njihovih krhkih teles

that are more durable than their fragile bodies

and our selective and fading memory of them.

in od našega selektivnega spomina, ki zbledi.

These items are recovered

Ti predmeti so zbrani iz številnih množičnih grobišč

from numerous mass graves,

and the main goal of this collection of the items

in glavni cilj njihovega zbiranja

is a unique process

leži v edinstvenem postopku identifikacije identifikacije izginulih v pobojih,

of identifying those who disappeared in the killings,

the first act of genocide on European soil

v prvem pojavu genocida na evropskih tleh po holokavstu.

since the Holocaust.

Not a single body should remain undiscovered

Niti eno truplo ne sme ostati neodkrito ali neidentificirano.

or unidentified.

Once recovered,

Ko jih najdejo,

these items that the victims carried with them

predmete, ki so jih žrtve nesle s seboj na usmrtitev,

on their way to execution

are carefully cleaned, analyzed,

previdno očistijo, analizirajo, katalogizirajo in shranijo.

catalogued and stored.

Thousands of artifacts are packed in white plastic bags

V teh plastičnih vrečkah je na tisoče predmetov,

just like the ones you see on CSI.

takih, kot jih vidite na CSI.

These objects are used as a forensic tool

So forenzični pripomoček pri vizualni identifikaciji žrtev,

in visual identification of the victims,

but they are also used as very valuable forensic evidence

so pa tudi pomemben forenzični dokaz na sojenjih za vojne zločine.

in the ongoing war crimes trials.

Survivors are occasionally called

Preživele včasih pozovejo na identifikacijo teh predmetov,

to try to identify these items physically,

but physical browsing is extremely difficult,

a fizični pregled je izjemno težak, neučinkovit in boleč.

an ineffective and painful process.

Once the forensics and doctors and lawyers

Ko forenziki, zdravniki in pravniki opravijo s predmeti,

are done with these objects,

they become orphans of the narrative.

ti postanejo sirote v zgodbi.

Many of them get destroyed, believe it or not,

Verjeli ali ne, mnogo se jih uniči

or they get simply shelved,

ali pa jih enostavno pospravijo stran od oči in misli.

out of sight and out of mind.

I decided a few years ago

Pred nekaj leti sem sklenil,

to photograph every single exhumed item

da bom fotografiral vsak najdeni predmet,

in order to create a visual archive

da bi ustvaril vizualni arhiv,

that survivors could easily browse.

ki bi ga preživeli brez težav pregledovali.

As a storyteller, I like to give back to the community.

Kot pripovedovalec zgodb rad vračam skupnosti,

I like to move beyond raising awareness.

grem preko osveščanja.

And in this case, someone may

Morda bo v tem primeru kdo prepoznal predmete

recognize these items

or at least their photographs will remain

ali pa bo ostala vsaj fotografija,

as a permanent, unbiased and accurate reminder

večni, nepristranski in točni opomnik tega,

of what happened.

kar se je zgodilo.

Photography is about empathy,

Pri fotografiji gre za empatijo

and the familiarity of these items guarantee empathy.

in bližina teh predmetov zagotavlja empatijo.

In this case, I am merely a tool,

V tem primeru sem le orodje, forenzik, če hočete,

a forensic, if you like,

and the result is a photography that is as close

rezultat pa je fotografija,

ki je kolikor je mogoče, podobna dokumentu.

as possible of being a document.

Once all the missing persons are identified,

Ko bodo identificirali vse izginule,

only decaying bodies in their graves

bodo ostala le trupla v grobovih

and these everyday items will remain.

in ti vsakdanji predmeti.

In all their simplicity,

V vsej svoji preprostosti

these items are the last testament

so ti predmeti zadnji pričevalci identitete žrtev.

to the identity of the victims,

the last permanent reminder

zadnji stalni spomin na to,

that these people ever existed.

da so ti ljudje kdaj obstajali.

Thank you very much.

Hvala lepa.

(Applause)

(aplavz)