Roots is a photographic story about people who live in the rhythm of earlier times — quietly, modestly, almost unnoticed, in a world that has remained faithful to the traditions and way of life of our ancestors. Biljana Latinović turns her lens toward those who preserve what modern life has long pushed aside: simplicity, dignity, and an everyday shaped by the land, by work, and by heritage. These are faces and homes that carry the traces of time, objects that take us back to the stories of our grandparents, and a way of life that still exists right beside us, even though we often fail to see it in the rush of the present day.

The photographs were created over the past five to six years across Serbia, Republika Srpska, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in rural and mountainous regions where life unfolds more slowly and quietly than in contemporary urban environments. These are places where the past is not preserved in museums, but lives on — in old houses, yards, tools, and in hands that work the same way generations before them once did.

Although she began her journey in macro photography, nature, and still life, Biljana gradually moved toward life photography, guided by the environment she lives in and by the need to document an everyday life that is slowly disappearing. A decisive moment came after the strong earthquake that struck the Petrinja area in Croatia in 2020, and was strongly felt in the Banja Luka region where she lives. On local television, she saw an appeal for help for an elderly woman from a nearby village — a story filled with worry and uncertainty. She went to see what the woman needed and to gather help among friends, but instead of the expected sadness, she found warmth, cheerfulness, and the strength of a woman living in conditions rarely seen today.

Although she had not come to photograph, that encounter became a turning point. Wanting to capture a moment that carried more than a document — a moment that held the spirit of earlier times and an unbroken human kindness — Biljana discovered her new photographic path.

Roots is therefore more than a visual record. It is a reminder that the world of our ancestors has not vanished — it still exists, quiet and persistent, within a daily life we often overlook in the speed of modern living. This is a collection about people who have remained faithful to the way of life that shaped our predecessors, about places where time moves more slowly, and where tradition is preserved not through words, but through life itself. Biljana’s photographs do not romanticize the past — they reveal a reality that is still here today: modest, truthful, dignified, and deeply human.

Jovan Svorcan

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