Witness: Photography, Anthropology and Art in the Balkans

The Balkans have long occupied a place of profound geopolitical significance, attracting the attention of anthropologists, journalists, scientists and artists alike. Witness explores the region through the work of four remarkable photographers and image-makers: pioneering traveller, anthropologist and artist Edith Durham, internationally acclaimed photojournalist Paul Lowe, photographer and photo historian Sheila Masson, and leading contemporary artist and former Official War Artist for Kosovo, Graham Fagen. 

Spanning more than a century, the exhibition traces how photography has documented everyday life, recorded conflict, assisted forensic investigation and preserved cultural memory. From Durham’s images of the early twentieth-century Balkans, through Lowe’s powerful photographs of Sarajevo under siege, to Masson’s reflections on the legacy and aftermath of war, Witness reveals photography’s enduring role in bearing witness to history. ‘Theatre‘, a work by the acclaimed Scottish artist Graham Fagen commissioned by the Imperial War Museum and made in Kosovo in 1999, will also be shown in the exhibition.   

At its core, the exhibition asks how images help societies remember, recover and reconcile after periods of upheaval. In doing so, it highlights the vital contribution of the arts to healing and renewal, offering spaces for reflection, empathy and understanding.  

A companion symposium held on 4th December at St John’s College, will explore these themes further, examining how both the arts and sciences can support resilience in the aftermath of conflict.

The exhibition is open daily from 11am – 6pm.