WEBVTT

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These are simple objects:

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clocks, keys, combs, glasses.

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They are the things the victims of genocide in Bosnia

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carried with them on their final journey.

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We are all familiar with these mundane,

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everyday objects.

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The fact that some of the victims carried

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personal items such as
toothpaste and a toothbrush

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is a clear sign they had no idea

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what was about to happen to them.

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Usually, they were told that they were going to be

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exchanged for prisoners of war.

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These items have been recovered

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from numerous mass graves across my homeland,

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and as we speak, forensics are exhuming bodies

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from newly discovered mass graves,

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20 years after the war.

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And it is quite possibly the largest ever discovered.

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During the four years of conflict

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

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approximately 30,000 citizens, mainly civilians,

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went missing, presumed killed,

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and another 100,000 were killed

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during combat operations.

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Most of them were killed

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either in the early days of the war

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or towards the end of the hostilities,

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when U.N. safe zones like Srebrenica

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fell into the hands of the Serb army.

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The international criminal tribunal

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delivered a number of sentences

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for crimes against humanity and genocide.

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Genocide is a systematic and deliberate

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destruction of a racial, political, religious

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or ethnic group.

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As much as genocide is about killing.

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It is also about destroying their property,

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their cultural heritage,

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and ultimately the very notion that they ever existed.

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Genocide is not only about the killing;

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it is about the denied identity.

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There are always traces —

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no such thing as a perfect crime.

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There are always remnants of the perished ones

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that are more durable than their fragile bodies

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and our selective and fading memory of them.

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These items are recovered

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from numerous mass graves,

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and the main goal of this collection of the items

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is a unique process

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of identifying those who disappeared in the killings,

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the first act of genocide on European soil

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since the Holocaust.

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Not a single body should remain undiscovered

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or unidentified.

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Once recovered,

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these items that the victims carried with them

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on their way to execution

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are carefully cleaned, analyzed,

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catalogued and stored.

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Thousands of artifacts are
packed in white plastic bags

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just like the ones you see on CSI.

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These objects are used as a forensic tool

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in visual identification of the victims,

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but they are also used as
very valuable forensic evidence

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in the ongoing war crimes trials.

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Survivors are occasionally called

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to try to identify these items physically,

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but physical browsing is extremely difficult,

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an ineffective and painful process.

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Once the forensics and doctors and lawyers

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are done with these objects,

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they become orphans of the narrative.

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Many of them get destroyed, believe it or not,

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or they get simply shelved,

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out of sight and out of mind.

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I decided a few years ago

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to photograph every single exhumed item

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in order to create a visual archive

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that survivors could easily browse.

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

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I like to move beyond raising awareness.

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And in this case, someone may

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recognize these items

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or at least their photographs will remain

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as a permanent, unbiased and accurate reminder

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of what happened.

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Photography is about empathy,

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and the familiarity of these
items guarantee empathy.

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In this case, I am merely a tool,

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a forensic, if you like,

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and the result is a photography that is as close

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as possible of being a document.

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Once all the missing persons are identified,

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only decaying bodies in their graves

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and these everyday items will remain.

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In all their simplicity,

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these items are the last testament

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to the identity of the victims,

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the last permanent reminder

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that these people ever existed.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)