Author: lekestove
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Life in the New: Basta
BASTAMany Serbs have managed to find their way back to their lives after the Second World War, but not all of them. VIKTORDon’t complicate things. Just get straight to the core. Say that they slaughtered us during the war. BASTAYes, but he already knows that. VIKTORYou are wrong! He doesn’t have a clue. Younger generations…
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Life in the New: Julijana Kušević
Just as the motorway bends slightly southeast towards Belgrade from Nikola Tesla airport, one can spot the crown of the Western City Gate from about two kilometers away. The looming tower reveals itself when approaching; A concrete high-rise stretching roughly 120 meters to the sky. It’s one of those buildings you can say “you won’t…
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Life in the New: Dejan Pljevljakušić
Dejan PljevljakuÅ¡ić glances at the ground-level basketball court below and takes a drag from his cigarette, quickly exhaling the smoke. From the balcony on the seventh floor, he often spots friends from the neighborhood drinking cans of lager and solving world problems while their children play together. Strictly speaking, they don’t need to have children…
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Life in the New: Rajić
Most garages in the apartment blocks on Jurija Gagarina street are used for parking or simply for extra storage for the people living there. For 77-year-old Rajić, it’s where he gets his work done. He uses the garage in Blok 63 as a workshop for his upholstery business while living in the eastern part of…
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Life in the New: Miodrag Govedarica
Miodrag “Bata” Govedarica is a poet, composer, and singer. He is also a father, grandfather, and widower. He moved to Novi Beograd forty years ago and has lived in an apartment on the fifth floor of Blok 7A ever since. “I had two sons then. I came here with them and my wife,” he tells…
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Life in the New: Filip Jašić
“I know the names of more dogs than people here.” Filip JaÅ¡ić is flanked by monumental buildings in Blok 62. He stands calmly with a cigarette in his hand. He has just petted a dog and greeted its two-legged owner. “You can feel a sense of community, especially with other people walking their dogs. You…
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Life in the New: Mirjana Milenković
When Mirjana Milenković first moved to Novi Beograd, she felt like she didn’t belong. That was over 50 years ago. “When I came to Belgrade, it was too big for me, you know? Everything was unfamiliar.” She offers wine and brings a coffee mug to her lips. The smell of homemade sarma, already eaten, lingers…
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Life in the New: Damir Ibišbegović
“If people don’t want it there, man, don’t build it. We don’t want it,” 28-year-old Damir IbiÅ¡begović says from the edge of his bed. Recently, property developers wanted to wedge an eight-story office building onto a plot of land in his neighborhood. If realized, the elongated building would block both the sun and the view…
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Life in the New: Goran Vuksanović
Paintings, drawings, photos, and keepsakes adorn the yellowed wallpaper of Bistro Nana. A Pioneer’s Titovka hat and an accompanying red scarf. A private collection of old smoking pipes. A homemade calendar, where a man is Photoshopped next to Tito’s wife, Jovanka Broz. Multiple witch figures hang inside the room, 49 to be exact. They are…
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Life in the New: Anniversary
Two years have passed since I published my photo book Life in the New, which explores the monumental architecture and everyday life of Novi Beograd, Serbia. Through portraits, interviews, and documentary photography, it tells the story of a city shaped by socialist modernism and the people who live within it today. To mark the anniversary,…