Nihad Nino Pušija

Sarajevo and Berlin (1996–2008)

Nihad Nino Pušija’s complex life trajectory has been shaped by forced migration during the brutal war in Bosnia, which destroyed his hometown of Sarajevo. Pušija documented the destruction as it was happening while working as a photojournalist for the independent Bosnia daily Oslobođenje.

Over the years, he would continue to return to former Yugoslavia, photographing the lasting impact of the war on spaces and people, and also revealing the constant recurrence of its causes. When Pušija relocated to Berlin, he began taking pictures of a different kind of ruined landscape—one marked not only by the more distant World War II but also by the dismantling of East German socialism, including the famed Palace of the Republic, which the artist visited right before it was torn down.

Another major subject in Pušija’s work is the fate of those dislocated by the Yugoslav Wars, including many people of Romani origin, who later found themselves ghettoized as migrants in Germany and elsewhere, caught in landscapes ravaged not by war but by consumerism.

Nihad Nino Pušija (1965, Sarajevo, Bosnia) is a fine art photographer focusing primarily on documentary and portrait photography. He has been active as a freelancer since 1988, undertaking various art photography projects and photo studies in Europe and the USA. Important themes in his work include the politics of recognition, Southeast Europe, refugees, conflict resolution, integration, and inclusion. Since 1992, he has been based in Berlin, realizing projects in the city, among others for: Kulturamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Museum Europäischer Kulturen, and Allianz Kulturstiftung.

Photographs