– Vječita Vijećnica by Rikard Larma returns to the City Hall –

On 5th April 2023, J.U. MES will host the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition titled “Sarajevo, vječita Vijećnica” (Eng. Sarajevo, the Eternal City Hall) by photographer Rikard Larma. This exhibition will officially mark the opening of the 28th edition of the Memory Module cultural program. The opening of the exhibition is organized in cooperation with the City of Sarajevo, to mark the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo. This year, the program runs from the beginning of April until 9th May when, honoring the Victory Day, there will be a guest performance by the Slovenian band Laibach. All the programs and events of this year’s Memory Module have been published on the MESS Festival website as well as on the MESS Festival Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/festivalMESS and the MESS Festival Instagram profile where all the announcements and information may be obtained.

„Sarajevo, vječita Vijećnica“ is an exhibition of photos of the City Hall from the period of the siege of Sarajevo, taken during the period of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. The photographs were taken by Rikard Larma, one of the most important Bosnian war photographers and photo reporters whose career path has led him all over the world. This exhibition depicts the City Hall as a symbol of courage and beauty and as one of the most important cultural monuments in all its beauty despite the radical circumstances.

“Rikard Larma was born in Zavidovići on 2nd April 1954. He graduated from a high school for photography and ever since he has been working, learning, creating, promoting and living for photography. His first photography teacher was his father Leopold. Then, as a photo amateur he perfected his skills attending photography courses in higher grades of primary school in Sarajevo and then at the Photography and Cinema Club “26th November” and at the Photo Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Photo Association of Yugoslavia. As a beginner photo amateur he became famous for his “life” and portrait photography, but he also tried himself in other fields and photography genres. At barely twenty years old, he became the youngest first-class photo amateur of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former common state of Yugoslavia. From 1974 on, he worked for different editions of the Sarajevo-based “Oslobođenje” newspaper as well as for many other Sarajevo and Yugoslav magazines – from sports magazines, weekly editions, to entertainment, art, family, politics and business magazines… He was regarded as one of the best photo amateurs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, taking part in numerous photo exhibitions in the country and abroad.

At the beginning of the war he almost instantly turned into a war photo reporter and for a long time he kept on working for the Associated Press. There is an urban legend related to Rikard Larma’s professionality. Namely, he is said to have stopped the publication of a photo of a man who had lost both his hands in a bomb explosion. When asked why he had done it, he replied that he had found out that the man lost his hands to his own bomb which he had mishandled and not to an enemy’s. This attitude towards the truth was commented on by Sidran, who said that “there is no supreme art without supreme ethics and that only in unison, these two can create supreme artistic and human pleasure.” (an excerpt from Rubina Čengić’s text titled “Rikard Larma, a man who does not want (us) to forget for he knows how important it is to remember”, written for the opening of his exhibition at the City Hall on 5th April).

Speaking on the occasion, the director of the International Theater Festival MESS Nihad Kreševljaković noted, “Rikard Larma’s last exhibition was displayed as part of the Memory Module fourteen years ago. The City Hall was still in ruins at the time. The return of Larma to his Sarajevo and the display of his amazing photos at the City Hall is an event of historical importance resembling one of those beautiful episodes from the past that speak of the love of Sarajevans for their city. There could be no better date for this exhibition than the 5th April, serving as a reminder of the indestructibility of what seems to be the essence of this city, namely its cosmopolitan character and its many contrasts that leave nobody indifferent.”