Irina Rozovsky's 'Mountain Black Heart' Blends Balkan Light and Darkness

Photographer Irina Rozovsky's new book, 'Mountain Black Heart,' published by MACK, condenses over a decade of travels through the Balkans into an impressionistic exploration of light and darkness. The work, which includes images shot in Croatia, Serbia, and Greece, avoids a linear narrative, instead focusing on ambiguity and atmosphere. Rozovsky, based in the US, was inspired by a visit to Zagreb and a brass band festival in rural Serbia. She photographed isolated settings and people, often with a close-range flash, creating images that feel both stoic and disorienting. The project also references the region's history of conflict and the refugee crisis during the Syrian Civil War, though Rozovsky deliberately avoids showing bullet holes, aligning with William Eggleston's sentiment of being 'at war with the obvious.' The book is structured to start cold and dark and end warm and explosive, reflecting the region's dual nature of funeral marches and manic joy. Rozovsky's approach questions the notion of a single narrative truth in photography.