A Balkan Journey A Photographic Journey Through the Towns and Cities of Post Conflict Former Yugoslavia

A Balkan Journey is a Visual Arts project in the form of an exhibition and a book of photography and essays, alongside interactive international and local events. Chris Leslie takes us on a photographic journey through the towns and cities of post-conflict Former Yugoslavia in this extensive and previously unseen 24-year archive from the region. This collection of work will showcase his earliest photographs from a war-ravaged Croatian town in 1996, through to the present-day Sarajevo of refugees and migrants trapped in limbo. 2020 marks a quarter of a century since the end of the conflict, but the region and Europe continues to struggle with conflicting ideologies. A Balkan Journey, presented as a Visual Arts project, will provide a crucial moment of reflection at this time, both for viewing public and for the artist at a pivotal moment in his life and career. It will provide us with a penetrating insight into the human stories behind one of the most influential periods in modern European history. Working alongside writer John McDougall, the project will include an exhibition at SOGO Gallery in Glasgow, a book of the photographs and accompanying background and stories, seven public events across Scotland and Sarajevo, and a website and social media campaign. The book and website include Bosnian / Croatian translations.