Goran Tomašević, né en 1969, est un photographe serbe. Travaillant pour Reuters, il a passé plus de 20 ans à voyager à travers le monde pour couvrir les plus importantes histoires du monde. Ses images de guerres et de révolutions comptent parmi les images les plus importantes des conflits dans les Balkans, en Irak, en Afghanistan, en Libye, en Syrie, au Soudan du Sud, au Pakistan, au Mozambique, en RD Congo, en République centrafricaine, au Burundi ou au Nigeria. Le travail de Tomašević a été reconnu par de nombreux prix internationaux prestigieux. Il a été nommé « Reuters Photographer of the Year » à quatre reprises, a reçu le premier prix dans la catégorie « Spot News Stories » au World Press Photo, le « China International Press Photo of the Year », le « SOPA Award of Excellence for News Photographie », le « London Frontline Club Award » et le prix « Days Japan ». Il a été nominé pour le prix Pulitzer pour Breaking News Photography. L’équipe photo du Guardian a choisi Goran Tomašević comme photographe d’agence de l’année 2013. International Business Times UK a choisi Goran comme photographe d’agence de l’année 2016. En 2019, Tomašević et plusieurs de ses collègues de Reuters ont reçu le prix Pulitzer Prize Breaking News Photography Award, pour avoir couvert la migration massive d’Amérique centrale et d’Amérique du Sud vers les États-Unis

This powerful, terrible book conveys a Dantesque vision of our humanity. The current circumstances, this morning in Ukraine, make us believe that this madness will never stop and continue to break our hearts. Admiration for Goran Tomašević, a wonderful Caravaggio of photography! Francis Kochert, Académie nationale de Metz, February 24, 2022.

Look to the man to discover the photographer. His father has just sold a bike and offers him his first camera, an ancient FED 5V. Goran is 13 years old and does not yet know that this precursor to the Leica will allow him to make rapid progress, helped by his older sister’s boyfriend, a professional photographer. And will turn his life into a permanent adventure – set out across the 444 pages of this exceptional volume, a major contribution to the great journey of photojournalism and a must-see history of the past 30 years.

In the footsteps or as companion of James Nachtwey, he is also a worthy heir to Robert Capa, Larry Burrows, Don McCullins and has become one of the greatest professionals of his generation. In his very own way he goes back to Mathew Brady who, during the Civil War of 1861, wanted to convey the „smell of death“ to American homes.

Goran Tomašević never cut off his Serbian origins. On the contrary, although he was already fascinated by Africa and the Middle East, he began by covering the situation in Croatia and Bosnia in 1991, responding to requests from the local press, including the Kosovar daily newspaper Pristina. With the teachings and affection of his father and grandfather in mind, Tomašević devoted himself first and foremost to the deep crisis that raged between NATO bombings and anti-Milošević demonstrations.

The quality of his reports, the force of his images allowed him to join the famous Reuters agency in 1996 to become, over the next 20 years, one of the most award-winning photographers in the world. “If you want to make the facts authentic, you have to be where they are. So that’s the challenge. But it’s harder”, he says in an interview, “when the stories are happening in your home. That’s what hurts the most.” This confession reveals one of the reasons for his humanity, which permeates all his reports, from Pristina to Kabul, and his whole photography, already a highly significant, expressive oeuvre in the world of photojournalism. The pictures by Goran Tomašević are more needed than ever to recognize the truth of the facts and the respect owed to each viewer, citizens without borders of our totally digitized planet. Alain Mingam, president of the World Press Photo Contest 1994 and vice president of Reporters Without Borders 2013 – 2015.