Sarajevo, summer 1996. The Dayton Agreement has been in force for six months. The city is studded with bistros and summer cafes. Just like one big outdoor restaurant. Thousands of people are milling through the streets and alleyways. Their resounding voices make the houses seem as though they are talking. The people are lapping up the freedom and sun that they have not experienced for four years - just like a sponge deprived of water for four years. Overloud music plays everywhere, neon lights fill the night - and the blue sky with the "Star of Sarajevo" forms the roof over this backdrop. This city has been resurrected and is alive. Its people are breathing and exist! Sarajevo is living as if to spite the past four years of war - and the uncertainty of the months and years ahead.
That was when I met Renato in Sarajevo, one Sunday evening, in the Bosnia Garden Restaurant, right in front of the Cathedral. Renato, who had been working at the Italian Institute in Sarajevo since 1st February 1996 told me his love story. He was sad, in low spirits, and melancholy.
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I later visited the places that he featured in his story with my camera. The photographs illustrate Renato's four weeks of "Walking without Katherine" . The photos ask the same questions as the people of Sarajevo are asking: what will things be like in one year's time?
