Our Walk Through Sarajevo

Explore our walk in Sarajevo. We interviewed and photographed 31 trees along the way. The walk itself occured between the two main locations of our trip: the Balkan Han Hostel and History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The google map below contains the archive of our walk. The dark green dots indicate the trees that we 'interviewed'. The lighter green dots indicate places of urban gardening during the siege, that we visited now. If you click on the dots, archival and recent photos will show. The pink dots mark the places where we interviewed people: a woman collecting elderblossoms to make lemonade, for example, and forestry professor Sead, who showed us how to find 'scars' in the bark of the trees.

Interviewing trees might seem a peculiar method: after all, trees can't speak. During the interviews, Nicole made a voice recording to note our observations and hypotheses about the stories this tree could tell. Jonas stood close to the tree, and made photos 'looking out', documenting the trees 'view' - focusing particularly on whether the tree was in a secluded area or potentially exposed to sniper fire. Catherine took 'portraits' of the tree itself, mostly focusing on the bark.

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Trees as Resource

Interview 24: Circle of Blue Spruce "We're standing inside the room made by five variants on coniferous pine trees. These are all young because they are hidden behind a large building. So, you have the triangle [of concealment to the] north of the building, and beyond this triangle's [area] are larger trees. The inside here is barren and the floor is made of pine needles. I wonder if people hang out here. I see a pigeon bone." Within Park Mirze i Davora there is one triangularly shaped area that would have been shielded from sniper view by neighbouring buildings. Today, most of the trees in this park are between 150-200 years old and were likely planted during Austro-Hungarian Times. However, there is one exception to that assessment: the five spruce trees within the triangle of protection. In the place of trees cut for firewood, these five spruce were planted in their stead during the war. See the article excerpt below. The Location: Park Mirze

Trees as Militarized Bodies

Interview 3: Protective Horse Chestnut In Front of Apartment "Large Chestnut tree situated across from the Bosnian Ministry of Finance. It's planted within a private garden, but we wonder why it still stands as the other trees around it are quite young. Jonas could fit his entire arms around this tree. It's quite old and pretty twisted; some spider webs. And, it is close to a building... maybe it was used as protection." Location: Mehmeda Spahe, Sarajevo 71000.

Trees as Militarized Bodies

Interview 29: Four Old, Leaning Poplars "Four poplars, south side of the Miljacka, close to where the front line begins [as] it meets the river. These trees are heavily scarred. They also lean away from the road and hang over the river a bit. Someone wrote "ARM ZDG" on it." Location: Aleja Lipa, Sarajevo 71000.

Trees in Sarajevo

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