The Bosnian war began during photographer Harun Mehmedinovic‘s youth and with it notions of normalcy, tradition and culture were taken and replaced with violence and repression.

 

He says that growing up in a communist state, one would be offensive doing nearly anything creative, carefree, or that wasn’t the status quo. In fact, he witnessed a total breakdown of social structure and soon learned to live by instinct and smarts. He found liberation in danger and the taboo, and his photography project, Bloodhoney, draws upon that.

 

“No matter where people come from, I see they have dreams, desires and wants,” he said. “Their life has been set up in such that they feel imprisoned. I meet people who rarely do what others disapprove of. It doesn’t mean that is what they want to do. They do what they are told to do or conditioned to do. They don’t have a single outlet at times. They work, have their routine. They are juggling all of these things…entirely suppressing any notion of personal fulfillment.”

 

After years of hard work and hundreds of shoots, Mehmedinovic’s Bloodhoney has provided that fulfillment to his subjects and anyone else who views the impactful and stunning photos showcasing the pure moment of letting go.

 

Harun Mehmedinovic spoke to RIZZARR about his life and how he is changing the world through photography.

 

 

 

How did you come up with the idea for Bloodhoney? 

Many of my friends have been rooted in a 9-to-5 existence, living highly structured and stressful lives. They were rarely going for anything creative or artistic or just going for their goals. Instead of a general catch up, I proposed we take a day to go somewhere that had meaning to them.

 

I let people do whatever they wanted to do for hours, places they would want to go. No one chose their work, rarely people chose their city. People wanted to go out to their dream land, into remote and unstructured environments. Places where people could float along, close their eyes and imagine themselves anywhere.

 

I remember working with one friend who wanted to do a portrait for a show. She drifted, almost like a kid. By the end of that night, I saw a change. All the worries and concerns she had had disappeared.

 

If you just get people to function without any clock, any set notion of time, if they are just walking along, you get to a daydreaming state. Your mind just relaxes by natural means. When you’re out there for hours not looking at cell phones or the clock or compartmentalizing your existence, you are in the presence and enjoying it as it comes. People struggle with that.

 

I thought why don’t I just give people a whole day out of their lives and they do whatever they want to do.

 

I do not subscribe to anything nor am I a part of any group that is behind something damaging. I am much more interested in you as a human being than how you fit with your silly notion of identity as related to some system.

 

This project is in many ways my response to those things. I am interested in working with people one-on-one, what their personal impulses and desires and wants and needs are. They don’t have to be a part of some silly system. We are not happy under those circumstances.

 

People do not want to be a part of system that represses you or tells you what to do. It kills them on the inside. Especially young people – they protest that.

 

 

What do you think of today’s youth?

The majority of Gen Y has not had that right of passage, been made to feel like they are an independent entity. If you go to your earliest memories, there was a feeling of carefree living. Before you started feeling indoctrinated, you looked at this world for what it is.

 

If you keep talking like that as you grow up, you’ll run into someone who shuts you up. The idea of mainstream is don’t be truthful, lie. You can grow up and do what you want – as much as it fits the agenda.

 

When I meet passionate people in life, they are the ones who have been able to observe and follow their curiosity. Most people who have been masters of their business, they rose to it because they just followed their curiosity. They had this curiosity and interest as they were observing, learning and absorbing like a sponge.

 

The problem now is people are being exposed to generalities. Gen Y is a particularly dependent group. Young people ought to be more rebellious. Yet, they feel they need to compromise or take what is given to them. A lot of Gen Y are afraid of what they are going to do, where they are going to go.

 

This project is something for people who have felt this.

 

 

Where did you come up with the name Bloodhoney?

Bloodhoney is a reference to the Balkans area I am from. The literal translation of Balkans is Blood Honey which the Turks had given to the region.

 

When the Turks arrived, they were astonished by the lush beauty and the brutality. It had been a place of sheer violence over the years. It was hard to see how a beautiful place could have such viciousness.

 

I heard this name – Bloodhoney – it is a poetic way to call that region. It spoke to me, it spoke to my own experiences. It was about embracing the positive and negative of life. You think that is how life is – positive and negative, beautiful and terrible things, the natural law of destruction and creation.

 

When I was trying to think of a name for the project, I saw it could go either way any day – good or bad. The name clicked.

 

 

How have you been financing the project? 

Coffee table photo books are extremely expensive things to do. The publishing industry rarely takes them on. I thought when I do one, I want to have a good demo to approach publishers so they can hold it in their hand and feel it is a real thing, not a promise only, but a real thing. Once I went through that first process, there was such a response I did not expect.

 

I thought with Kickstarter, you turn to the people and see how much people will want it.   It was interesting to see who were fans of the project, the people who want to finance it. It added this sense of urgency and importance to the project when it became so public. The promise became public.

 

 

 

What issues or complications did you have during the project?

It took way longer for the writing aspect of the project – to really find a tone for the whole piece, consistency of tone, a certain style. I was considering, Do I call up these people and interview them? Do I come up with an interview style story?  

 

Very quickly I realized that’s not what the approach should be. The project is about little stories, little moments that had meaning to them. I would show people the stories I had written, of what I remembered of my time with them. I’d ask if I was being too personal or giving up information they didn’t want out. They surprised me when they said they were just cool with it.  

 

 

 

When hardships happened, what kept you going?

I thought I should just enjoy being with those people, whatever happened. I had to just go with it. I thought, You need to force your will, remove your ego out of the equation and just enjoy. Maybe there’ll be nothing tangible at the end of this project, who cares. Enjoy the moment with those people.  

 

Case in point, I went on a shoot and tried to find a location and they wanted a particular spot. Things weren’t going right. The day was a lot of fun for me. The fact we were just looking for that place was cool. Ultimately you have to enjoy the process, enjoy how life comes. If you are not enjoying it then the ends do not justify the means.  

 

 

Learn more about Harun Mehmedinovic’s work – BloodHoney.com.
 
You can donate to his Kickstarter campaign here – Bloodhoney* Persona – A Book of Photos and Stories.