Renowned BiH photographer: We've grown accustomed to migrant suffering

N1

We've grown accustomed to the migrant situation in the Bosnia which is getting worse, renown BiH photographer Damir Sagolj said Tuesday for N1, adding that last year they had a more humane treatment.

“This is their second or third winter here when our emotions become dull. These people are between the rock and a hard place and now they're fighting for survival. We've all been at the bottom once and fought for our survival. When we hear the news of someone stealing something from a cottage we must remember what we did when we were refugees when we roamed Germany without papers and how we were treated,” Sagolj said, adding that we would understand their position a little better if we looked at them in this way.

When asked who these people are, Sagolj who spent a lot of time photographing them said the situation now is a little different.

“Last year there were more people from Syria and Iraq and they were treated differently because they've had the refugee status, so they were able to get through the red tape more easily and get the asylum. Now we're seeing many people from countries not engulfed by war, like Afghanistan. There are people running away from the Taliban, running from danger to save their lives and if we're going to treat those people as economic migrants and if we treat them as someone who has a higher salary than we do then we're either naïve or insolent or both,” Sagolj said.

Speaking about his approach to migrants when he photographs them he said there are multiple Damirs.

“There's a simple man with or without empathy. Then there's a different Damir or a person who's been through similar things and who's been photographed through the four years of our own trouble when they photographed us. And then there is the third Damir, the professional who's been doing this for the past 5-30 years, who knows how not to make a wrong move which would make these people feel uncomfortable,” Sagolj said.