I became a refugee at age 5 when I moved to the middle of America as one of 70,000 migrants of the Bosnian War. With each step away from home, this vast American space demanded that we analyze ourselves in relation to it. Thus, we became Bosnian-American, grappling with each end of the hyphen, brought together in order to fit within this new homeland. It is through the act of image-making that I’m able to re-write and re-tell part of our history.

Sending Love Back Home surveys the lives of Muslim refugees and immigrants from across the Balkan Diaspora. Through photographic based media, I contextualize the Bosnian-American relationship shaped by social, cultural, and political identities inside xenophobic culture. Inspired by the work of artists such as Latoya Ruby Frazier, Sohrab Hura, and Jitka Hanzlová, I turn the camera on my family to create subject matter. Through familial connections, issues of religion, memory, and migration interact in the re-construction of a cultural identity.

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To see more of Aida Hasanovic’s work visit — Website / Instagram