EVIL DOESN'T LIVE HERE,

by Daoud Sarhandi, Alina Boboc, David Rohde (Foreword)

For most Americans and Europeans, the Bosnian War was played out in the brief, flickering images of television news. But another set of images, more permanent and more profound, played an active role in this war, molding public sentiment and calling attention to the plight of the Bosnian people. For three hellish years, Bosnians plastered the walls of their towns with messages of anger, frustration, desperation, resistance, and hope. These extraordinary images, the focus of this book, are juxtaposed with the hateful, divisive works of propaganda that served the most vicious practitioners of "ethnic cleansing." Evil Doesn't Live Here presents this visual battle to the rest of the world for the first time. Former Bosnian aid workers Daoud Sarhandi and Alina Boboc have gathered over 180 of the most dramatic wartime posters, largely created by Bosnian artists and graphic designers at the height of the war. Fascinating on both political and artistic levels, they provide a harrowing account of the war and put a human face on this seemingly incomprehensible conflict. David Rohde, author of the acclaimed Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica and winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Bosnian War, introduces this vivid and unforgettable collection, which will appeal as much to those interested in current affairs as designers and artists. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to victims of the Bosnian War.

Genres: History, War, Nonfiction, Art

194 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rupert Wolfe-Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. It showcases some of the original art that was produced during the Bosnian War (1992-95), when Serbia invaded Bosnia and claimed it as its own (rather like Russia did with Ukraine in 2022). When Serbia invaded Bosnia it cut off access to the mass media and one of the results of this was that Bosnian artists produced a flurry of incredible posters -- most of which protest at the fact that their multi-ethnic nation had just been invaded by a bullying neighbour.

An updated version of this book was published in 2022 by Interlink, under the name Bosnian War Posters.

Disclosure: I was involved in the researching of both these publishing projects.