Photo: Bojan Mustur

The photos were made on the 29th of January 2019 (at The Pearl, Porto Arabia) when Qatar Football National Team defeated UAE Football National Team 4:0 in the semi-final match of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup (Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE).

To mark the third anniversary of the blockade, Qatar Museums (QM), under the leadership of its Chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has unveiled a series of public art installations by local and international artists. Chosen on the basis of the annual 6/5 Open Call Initiative, as well as a special open call initiated by Qatar Museums and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), the artworks are intended to inspire hope and commemorate this historic period for the nation.

Source: www.iloveqatar.net

Photo: Bojan Mustur

My favourite spots for photography in Qatar are indoubtably West Bay, Corniche and Souq Wakif.

I love them because they remind me of the cities and places I left a piece of myself in. It’s surely not Hollywood Walk of Fame. And there are no my footprints there. Those are the segments of my childhood and growing up. Nobody can take that away from you. In every city, just like in Doha, you can recognise those fragments and make them be your guide. You make a puzzle.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

I still long for New Belgrade, Serbia, that reminds me of West Bay. It’s like a hive, with shopping malls and tall skyscrapers with the names of famous architects on them. There’s no honey in this hive. People try and reach the heights, without wanting to go back down.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

I miss Ada Ciganlija (the river peninsula, New Belgrade), the place on the bank of The Sava river. Just like Corniche. Coffee shops on the rafts, like dhows, where you can hide from the summer heat. When you, a waterpolo player and a good swimmer, jump into the black, wild waters and are proud of yourself because you came out alive. Where people walk. Wonderful people, always ready for the adventure. Sport and fun.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

Sarajevo’s Baščaršija (Sarajevo’s old bazaar, Bosnia and Herzegovina), isn’t it Souq Waqif? Paved golden paths, aromas of coffee, kofta, bourek, where the ghosts of the past times lead you. And they do it successfully. Where the worlds blend. Where the West ends, and the East begins. Where the flavors of almost all the world’s cuisines tickle your senses. And culture. You can never be hungry for it here. But you’re always longing for love and pride. Because here we live the past lives.

And get reborn, flying like a Phoenix!

Photo: Bojan Mustur

I grew up watching movies. I used to spend hours studying motion pictures, like in the title of the classic movie, completely Breathless. (fr.: À bout de souffle). I was infatuated by the movies of Italian neorealism, French New Wave and American Film Noir. I was almost the only visitor of The National Film Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I truly enjoyed my solitude there. I was left speechless by magic and miracles of Georges Méliès and Buster Keaton, the pensive smile of Charlie Chaplin, and the Thespian portraits of John Ford’s Wild West.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

In the years that were passing inexorably, I was inhabiting invisible the circus tents of Federico Fellini. And imagining I was a clown. I laughed at the sketches of the Marx brothers, Harold Lloyd and Jacques Tati. And though he was Mon Oncle.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

Although my greatest wish was to become a film director, photography became its charismatic replacement. It was much simpler. Smoother. It helped me recognize people’s emotions, without stealing them. It helped me show them to the world. Through the window, frame, like Marc Chagall’s painting Paris through the Window (fr.: Paris par la fenêtre). It helped me not to be just a pathetic paparazzi, like in La Dolce Vita movie. To make people laugh and affect their emotions. My mirror, hidden inside the camera.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

That’s why I think that portraits and human faces are the biggest treasure of the contemporary photography. Just like through the lenses of Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and so on. Not even to mention Milomir Kovačevic – Strašni, a photographer from Sarajevo. The beating heart, the love that’s always reborn. Like the sun in Doha, illuminating luxurious West Bay. And the passers-by.

Photo: Bojan Mustur

And somewhere, well hidden, Robert Doisneau is capturing the life of the city. Maybe it’s me?