This series was made in collaboration with the BBC to mark the 10th anniversary of the siege and destruction of Vukovar, a Croatian town sitting on the Danube close to the Serbian border. 

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I made two visits to Vukovar back in 2000 and 2001, during which I would stay with families, both Serb and Croat. During my first visit I produced a series of images which looked at general aspects of the town — work, society, rebuilding — as I tried to understand something of the complex situation there. My hope was to offer an alternative to photojournalism, by making quieter images that were sensitive to signs of progress but also to feelings of leftover conflict and tension within familiar contexts such as the home, social club or factory.

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For my second visit, I found myself drawn specifically to the Borovo shoe factory and the adjoining 'workers colony.' As one of the main employers in the region, The Borovo factory seemed to represent many of the problems facing the town as a whole in terms of both physical destruction and social change.

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When I finished this series it was  destined for publication in The Sunday Times and BBC Television but then September 11th happened and the Balkans fell off the media radar completely. The series was rediscovered some years later by LensCulture and exhibited at La Quatrième Image in Paris.

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