Sunday, November 28, 2010

Serbia 15. Theological Seminary

There is a theological high school in a small town next to Novi Sad. The students in the class I photographed had an exam during my short visit there. At the end of the day the whole school (boys only) went to church to sing during the evening prayer.





Saturday, November 27, 2010

Serbia 14. Velika Remeta Monastery

I have been trying for a long time to get access to one of the old Serbian monasteries. It was through friends from the Radio Television of Serbia that I was finally able to visit Velika Remeta, a monastery established in late 15th century in Voivodina, the northern part of the country. These friends helped me tremendously with access and transportation. I am deeply grateful to Ljubica Lalic for her assistance.










Thursday, November 25, 2010

Serbia 13. Slava.

The Slava is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the celebration of a family's own patron saint. The family celebrates the slava annually on the patron saint's feast day. I photographed two Slava celebrations. I wanted to photograph this celebration both in a city and in a village. The first pictures batch of pictures are from a Slava in Belgrade. The second one are shot in a village called Porodin, where I got access thanks to a Romanian-Serb guy called Zoran Gruic, that I met while photographing the pilgrimage in Djunis last month. I am really grateful to these people for allowing me to photograph their celebrations.















Monday, November 22, 2010

Serbia 12. 1389

1389 is the year when the battle of Kosovo took place, where the Serbian army, led by Knyaz Lazar, fought against the invading army of the Ottoman Empire. After the battle, both Knyaz Lazar and Sultan Murad I died, along with most of their soldiers. Serbian epics says that Knyaz Lazar was visited by an angel of God on the night before the clash, and offered a choice between an earthly or a heavenly kingdom. Lazar opted for the latter, which is why many Serbs believe they are heavenly people.

1389 is also the name of an organization in Serbia, often called right-wing by the media and associated with nationalistic movements and implication in anti-European actions, such as the recent gay parade protests and clashes. They are strongly strong believers and consider Orthodoxy a core element of Serbian identity. That is why I wanted to meet them. The leaders of the 1389 agreed to see me. I explained a little bit about my project and they agreed to let me tag along with some of their members for a while in New Belgrade.






Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Marko's Romanian Teenagers

Great work about Romanian teenagers, for the World Press Photo's See Masterclass, by my friend Marko Risovic, a great Serbian photographer.