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On Assignment: Mario Corvetto

by Mario Corvetto (as told to Susan Harris)

In September of 1996, Mario Corvetto accompanied his wife Jeanine on a trip that would redefine the human spirit. They went to live in Bosnia for a year. Jeanine was assigned as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Technical Assistance to advise the Bosnia-Herzegovina government on rebuilding infrastructure. Mario decided to donate his skills as a photographer in the hopes that his images might help the relief organizations to increase world awareness and raise funds for the rehabilitation of a country, its cultures, and its people. What follows is the first in a series of three articles dedicated to the silence after the bombs have stopped--and, in that silence, a heartbeat that signals the survival of the spirit. This segment focuses on the children of war. (Portions of the text were taken from an oral interview.) - Susan Harris

THE SPIRIT OF HUMAN STRUGGLE:  BOSNIA               
by Mario Corvetto

When my wife was offered a job to go to Bosnia, we felt--we have such a fortunate life in the United States--this would be an opportunity to give something back. For my part, it was an opportunity for me to utilize my photography as a tool to help the community. In an area like Bosnia where all the material aspects of the culture were totally destroyed, I expected the human spirit to be destroyed, as well. But what I found was the human spirit was very much alive. We met people who had been shot at, their families torn apart, their relatives raped, their homes demolished by hate. And these people were trying to love their enemies. Jeanine mentioned that it's not easy to give love to people who don't love you back, but that is the answer to the problems. And we found that there.

I want my photographs to show that bullets will not kill the spirit. You might damage it. You might transform it for a while, but always the spirit will reinvent itself in a way and come forward. This is what we experienced. We found a spirit of reconciliation--especially in the women. The women were the first ones to cross the forbidden lines to talk to the other women, because they were neighbors all the time. And they are the ones who may eventually get the communities back together. It's going to be a formidable problem. During a visit to a farming community in Bosnia, I met a Muslim man who had lost his arm from a Serbian shell which hit his home. When I asked him about the possibility of his Serbian neighbors returning back to their homes, he replied, "One man--not a nation--took my arm. If I do not allow my Serbian neighbors to return home, I will be not only physically incomplete, but also spiritually (incomplete)."

I was in Bosnia for a year. As time passes and you hook up with the people, you become part of their family, not just a friend or acquaintance. Then you realize--and by that time it's too late--that sooner or later you must leave, because Bosnia is not your home. But you feel that you're abandoning a family, your children. You realize that your leaving will be even more dramatic for them than for you, because you have become one of the pieces they're missing in their lives. We were the only persons to whom they could tell their stories, because everyone (else) had gone through the same nightmare. Trying not to feel the guilt of abandonment is our burden right now. On the other hand, we came out with a gift. They gave us a lot more sense to our lives than we could ever give them. The dilemma of sharing my images is how do you show these images to the world without hurting again these people who are already going through a process of healing? The last thing you want to do is to betray the gift that you have received.

It's not trivial. It's not easy. And it's not easy to talk about. I feel that it's important for me to tell you about the everyday heroes who will never have their fifteen minutes of fame. Only the dead ones made the news. They sold commercials! The more they bled, the tighter the image.

This experience is not one about which someone can say, "Hey, Mario, how was your trip to Bosnia?"  I can only write from my heart and from my experiences and observations. A difficult task considering that I write with my eyes, not with a pen.

How much time do you have? 

What do you really want to hear? 

That is the difficult part.

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About Mario Corvetto

Mario Corvetto uses a Leica camera for his images. Apart from his photography, he works as a travel consultant in the U.S. for universities, non-profit organizations, museums, zoos and foundations. Mario designs customized trips for group or individuals looking to travel to Peru. He is the U.S. representative for Rainforest Expeditions and also guides his own photo trips to Peru.

For more information visit Rainforest Expeditions at: WWW.PERUNATURE.COM

You can write Mario Corvetto at: MLCORVETTO@AOL.COM

Mario’s number in Colorado is: (303) 838-9412 TEL/FAX

For More Information

For a concise history of the Bosnia area see http://www.nytimes.com/specials/bosnia/context/history.html at the New York Times web site.

Also visit the Bosnia Home page at Caltech http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~bosnia/

(Map Credit: The New York Times)