Olivier Suter (*1959) – Biography
Two large portraits of children, who appear to be twins, gaze at us: a girl and a boy, both born in 2009, she from Belgrade, he from Sarajevo: Enemies? Olivier Suter sought them out in the post-Yugoslav space using photographs he published in regional newspapers, hoping that someone resembling their twin would respond and agree to further participate in his project, standing side by side with their found twin in a public space.
Olivier Suter. (Ne)prijatelji, Enemies Balkans, 2018/19
The Enemies project is part of a larger endeavor exploring the same question: how can human beings, who are in fact so close, from the same land, almost the same blood, become enemies? Their closeness, their similarities, but also their division, form the basis of this project. The artist looks in local press for photos of “twins,” people who look alike but come from “different nations” and different areas, such as Israel and Palestine, or Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was an investigation that never went quickly, never without obstacles, resistance, and fear. But each time, the artist finds children in the process—twins, a boy and a girl, sometimes even from different generations.
In Bioskop Balkan, the boy from Sarajevo and the girl from Serbia seem quite content with the view of the city of Belgrade.
Photo: Bojana Janjić