25 years of liberation: Scottish photo brings Kosovo post-war exhibition in Kosovo

The work of a University-based photo in Scotland, which seized history in creation while involved with peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, has decided to open a high-level exhibition.

Nick Sidle “exhibition KFOR and Kosovo +25” will also be seen at the most prestigious art site in Greenland later this year.

The opening of the exhibition will take place at the Kosovo National Museum on Tuesday (June 11th) and is expected to be opened by the country's prime minister, Albin Kurti, “reports.ross-shironal.co.uk”, broadcast Clankosova.tv.

The exhibition is focused on a unique photodocumentor with special access to “Heartstone” (“Heartstone” is a non-profit organisation based in Greenland that produces stories through art, literature, events and more), produced in Kosovo in 2000-1 by the Kiltarlitty-based photoreporter, when he was involved with several United Kingdom regiments that were part of KFOR's intervention.

The first presentation in London and the exhibition took place at the Tower of London in January. Its success led to an invitation to organise the full exhibition at the Kosovo National Museum in June at the time of the anniversary.

The exhibition will be opened by Lord George Robertson, Secretary General NATO at the time of photodocumentary.

Sitakumar, director of the Dingwall-based Heartstone, who organised the original access, will be personally present at the event and will talk about the background of history, how it gathered and its role at that time and today.

Sidle will join online for the event to mark a period of history that affected so many lives in the UK and eight other countries that were part of KFOR.

In 1999, KFOR, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force, entered Kosovo after UN Security Council Resolution 1244. 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of that deployment. The first UN Security Council resolution regarding Kosovo was adopted on 31 March 1998 and the second on September 23rd 1998. This was followed by a series of resolutions that culminated with Resolution 1244 a year later.

Sidle was attached to KFOR in the early stages of the operation. It was involved with several entities and produced a unique record of peacekeeping work by displaying troops from nine different countries, including nineteen regiments or individual units from the United Kingdom and the United States, the two largest contributors to KFOR.

The photograph has captured not only the work of soldiers but also highlighted Kosovo's world at that time from a human standpoint, to enable audiences across the country to empathise and understand a world in which intolerance and hatred were raised to new levels and why there was a need for peacekeeping intervention to protect lives and homes and to help rebuild ordinary life in those extraordinary circumstances.

The exhibition of KFOR and Kosovo in 2002 was presented throughout the United Kingdom, at the European Parliament in Brussels and at NATO headquarters. It also became a format for use by schools and colleges throughout the United Kingdom to generate discussions on the issues raised.

Lord Robertson said: “This exhibition highlights an extraordinary period in the newest European history. The armed forces that liberated Kosovo and the freed people are now remembered in a historical photodocumen with real human interest. It is an illustrated lesson for our time. ”

General Sir Nicholas Carter said: “This exhibition is in due time given the turbulence of current global events because it reminds us that it is possible for the international community to unite to help a country torn apart by ethnic tensions”.

According to “Heartstone”, 25 years later, this story has not finished “and it is “a documentary of a history period that should not be forgotten, but also has many lessons for our time in a world where many live with conflict/environment, circumstances that are affecting all of us”.

KFOR is still active in Kosovo. Sitakumar said: “Photo, and the discussion it leads to, brings its audience, through a visual, nonpolitical, cultural medium, in a world where they can empathize with those of different backgrounds, understand the commons of human experience, why prejudice/notoglerance should be treated in the earliest stages and especially in times of difficulty, the need for peacekeeping forces and the experience of refugees and those displaced <x1).

“Anyway, this is a positive story -- it's about human stability and hope in extraordinary circumstances and the importance of people and nations co-operating together to achieve positive results”.

This exhibition is being restored and reworked by the originals of the film to be presented in its complete form in June 2024 in Kosovo at the time of the anniversary, and after that presentation, a further exhibition will be organised at the Kosovo National Memorial Arbortium Memorial Memorial Memorial on 23 June.

The development of this new exhibition was marked with a special presentation at the Scotland Parliament on September 19th, 2023 with Minister Angus Robertson in his role as Secretary of the Cabinet for Constitution, Foreign Affairs and Culture.

The exhibition now includes veterans' interviews of several regiments, who were in Kosovo at the time of photodocumentary and presentation into images, which have been traced with the aim of adding their stories, now 25 years later, to the new exhibition. Some of these veterans will be at the online event on 11 June.

This exhibition offers a mechanism to keep alive memories and powerful experiences and to use them to inspire and inform the next generation.

The exhibition will go to Eden Court in Iverness, Scotland in September, while later will pass as a presentation at Parliament Houses in the autumn.