Topic Sarajevo Photography Festival 2025: Weltschmerz – Photo as a space of transformation, personal narrative and critical attitude towards reality – culture

The festival gathers photographers, curators, galleries and art lovers from the region and world, and this year’s program especially illuminates current social and environmental challenges through the topic weltschmerz.

Inspired by a term that signifies a feeling of sadness due to disagreements between ideals and reality, Weltschmerz serves as a conceptual framework of the festival. Through personal narrative, critical attitude towards reality, as well as reflection on loss, transformation and resistance, participants will explore the limits of artistic expression through photography.

Theme Weltschmerz through exhibitions, lectures, projections and workshops opens space to move boundaries and exit the usual framework of photo observation frames.

The special segment of the Festival this year is dedicated to photo books and independent publishing, as key forms of long-term copyright expression. Festival support for this form allows photographs to exit the frame of quick online consuming content and develop narratives that last – physically and conceptually.

Education in this direction does not only empower the authors to circle its projects in full form, but encourages the culture of independent publishing and independent action, which is essential for the resilience and diversity of the photographic scene.

In line with Weltschmerz, the festival brings a series of carefully selected exhibitions. The American artist Diana Dikeman will present Leaving and Waving project in the BiH Art Gallery. This series was 27 years old – the author photographed the moments of parting while leaving their parents from their house in Sijuks City.

It started in 1991. spontaneously, as a way to deal with sadness. Over time, it became a family ritual. Photos are monitoring the flow of time, parental aging, Death of the Father 2009 and Mother 2017, and ends with an empty approach. The project is about love, transience and quiet for daily farewell.

Collective Belgrade Raw and Artist Jelena Nikolic exhibiting series photo Not many things DeGust Me a Lot of Things Make Me USA in Manifesto Gallery.

In the historic Museum, Dženat Dreković will present the Bamburci exhibition. The article of the finalists, with photographers from almost 60 countries, will be shown in the works of photographers, while Solar Portraits Ruben Salgada Escader will be set up on Susan Sontag Square.

We remind, the festival is a competitive nature and photographs from the region provides an opportunity to compete in eight categories – portrait, documentary photography, life, fashion, conceptual photography, landscape, event and mobile photography. The Grand Prix festival is 2,000 euros, while the winners of the first places in each category receive prizes sponsored by Canon and the Festival Statue.

The works of participants decide on the work of the participants who make up highlighted professionals from World Photos Alesia Glaviano, Kiana Hajeri, Marina Paulenka (director of exhibitions in photography Berlin) and Irfan Hošić (artist and curator).

The entire festival program will be available soon on the official website: https://sarajevophotofest.com/.