Exhibition of the Grand Prix winners Rovinj Photodays 2025
May 15, 2026
CVU Batana, Rovinj, Croatia
Mitar Simikić: The Black Gold
Ugljevik, a city shaped by coal, was built on the idea of shared homes, work, and life. Through photographic fragments reminiscent of the pages of a family album, the exhibition reflects on the loss of home, displacement, and fragile memories struggling to find ground in an ever-changing terrain.
@rovinj_photodays
PHOTO EXHIBITION: Black Gold at the International Documentary Film Festival ZAGREBDOX @zagrebdox
Located in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ugljevik (whose name comes from the word for coal) is a typical mining town. Created during socialism as a model of an industrial community based on progress and equality, today it is marked by erasure and constant relocations. The work is rooted in personal history: in 1982, my parents were among the first families to leave their home because of the mine's expansion. This work follows the settlement's disappearance and the community's life in a permanent state of displacement.
Photography and video: Mitar Simikić
Editing and postproduction: Marko Novaković @m.novak07
• The world that shaped my childhood is no longer here, mama.
↳ With this work, Mitar Simikić | @mitar.simikic won a finalist spot at #SPF25 for #ConceptualPhotography category.
↳ He is a documentary photographer from #BosniaandHerzegovina. He is represented by VII Photo Agency (mentee) for 2023-2024 and is a VII Academy Scholarship Recipient. His work has been recognized through awards and grants such as the VID Grant Financial Prize, The Everyday Project, Felix Schoeller Photo Award, Sarajevo Photography Award, and Kolga Tbilisi Photo. His work has been featured in numerous publications around the world, and he has been showcased at various festivals and exhibitions.
↳ You still have two more days to submit your work to #SPF26. Link in bio.
#SarajevoPhotographyFestival OpenCall
The Danube, My Sea
Not the one that leaves salt on your skin, but river mud beneath your fingernails, places where summers were measured by the color of skin and the length of the day.
There, concrete was a pier, and sand was the horizon. There, children learned how to swim, and adults learned how to pretend that nothing hurts.
The Danube was never just a river. It was an escape, it was a promise, it was the line between the city and freedom.
Once, Novi Sad had a sea.
Maybe it still does, we just look at it differently now.
#ongoing project
📸 Photography Exhibition Opening
🗓 December 26
🕖 7:00 PM
📍 Cultural Center Trebinje @kctrebinje
The exhibition will be open to visitors until January 20, 2026.
JANJA
Like many rivers around the world, the Janja has undergone profound changes over the past decades. Once a lifeline for the communities along its banks, it was redirected in the early 1980s to serve industrial needs, altering its natural flow, ecology, and meaning. This photographic project traces the river's course through northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, exploring the layered cultural, historical, and environmental transformations embedded in its landscape, listening to what remains, and what has been lost.
On October 17, the project “Janja” was presented at the OKO Foto Festival Bohinj @oko_bohinj in Slovenia. The exhibition, installed outdoors in front of Hotel Bohinj, will remain open to visitors until the end of November.
Endless gratitude to the amazing team behind the festival, Fernanda Prado Verčić @pradofernanda and Urška Golob, and everyone who made this possible for creating a space where artists, places, and stories meet.
It was a pleasure to share this experience with fellow participating artists: Alex Kemman @alexkemman , Carolina Arantes @c_arantes , Mauro Curti @maurocurti_ , Karl Mancini @karlitomancini , Liz Miller Kovacs @miller.kovacs , Ela Zdešar @elazdesar , Katja Goljat @katjagoljat , Julie Busse @howlllfilm
Thank you to everyone who came, listened, and connected with the story of the Janja River, a place that continues to flow through memory and change.
Special thanks to photographers Katja Jemec @katjajemec and Katja Pokorn @katjapokorn for capturing these moments so beautifully.
💧Kaj se zgodi, ko reka izgubi svoj glas?
Fotograf Mitar Simikić v projektu Janja sledi toku reke v severovzhodni Bosni in Hercegovini – reke, ki je stoletja hranila in oblikovala življenje ljudi ob svojih bregovih. Z industrializacijo in izgradnjo elektrarne Ugljevik je izgubila svojo divjino, njeni ekosistemi propadajo, voda pa postaja vir tihega nemira.
Njegove fotografije so tihi pričevanji časa – pogled v svet, kjer človek in narava iščeta novo ravnotežje. Razstava je umeščena pred Hotel Bohinj, kjer srečanje med sodobno arhitekturo in naravno pripovedjo reke ustvarja prostor za razmislek. Hotel Bohinj, navdihnjen z lokalno tradicijo in naravnimi materiali, simbolizira preplet udobja in odgovornosti do prostora, kjer bivamo.
🖼️ Razstava: Mitar Simikić – Janja
📅 17. oktober 2025, 15:30
📍 Pred Hotelom Bohinj
~*~
💧What happens when a river loses its voice?
Photographer Mitar Simikić traces a river in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina – a river that for centuries sustained and shaped life along its banks. With industrialization and the Ugljevik power plant, it lost its wildness, ecosystems began to fade, and its waters turned into a source of quiet unrest.
His images are quiet testimonies of a changing world – a reflection on how humanity and nature search for balance. Set in front of Hotel Bohinj, the exhibition creates a dialogue between architecture and the river’s story. Hotel Bohinj, inspired by local tradition and natural materials, symbolizes the blend of modern comfort and responsibility to the space we inhabit.
🖼️ Exhibition: Mitar Simikić – Janja
📅 October 17, 2025, 3:30 PM
📍 In front of Hotel Bohinj
#okofotofestival #Photography #nature_lovers #VisualStorytelling #DocumentaryPhotography #natureconservation #river #water #natureconservationphotography #Bohinj #IFeelSlovenia #Slovenia #LakeBohinj
@julian.alps | @triglav.national.park | @feelslovenia | @slovenia_outdoors | @slovenia.green
The doors are open.
Visitors are welcome to experience the exhibition at the SULUV Gallery @suluv_gallery , Union of Associations of Fine Artists of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia, on view until September 26.
Flowing through northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Janja River has long been a lifeline for surrounding communities, sustaining land, people, and traditions. Once a source of vitality and joy, its role was profoundly altered with the construction of the Ugljevik power plant in the late 1970s. The diversion of its flow in the 1980s disrupted the river’s ecosystem and reshaped its course. Today, spanning 53 kilometers as a tributary of the Drina, Janja carries both memory and loss.
This project reflects on the river’s ecological, cultural, and emotional transformations, listening closely to the whispers of its past and present.
I extend gratitude to Epson Serbia @epsonsrbija for their generous support of this exhibition. To support the work, limited edition prints are available for purchase, high-quality prints on Epson Premium Luster professional paper, 250g. For inquiries, please contact me directly via DM.
Grand Prix Winner Rovinj Photo Days 2025
After being selected in two categories, second place in the Portrait category and first place in the Landscape category, I was completely surprised during the awards ceremony when I received the Grand Prix, the main award. This officially marked the conclusion of the 18th edition of the largest Croatian contemporary photography festival – Rovinj Photodays. I would like to thank the jury members for recognizing my work, as well as all the selected photographers. See you next year in Rovinj for my solo exhibition.
@rovinj_photodays
I am honored to have been selected as a finalist for Rovinj Photo Days 2025 in the landscape category, winning first place.
Find out more: /en/finalist/mitar-simikic2/
The very name – Ugljevik (derived from the Serbian word for coal) clearly defines a town built next to a mine. Envisaged as a “perfect place,” where everyone would have the same home, the same job, and the same standard of living—in other words, where all would be equally happy and prosperous. Communist idealism and socialist practice.
For a while, it seemed to work well; everything seemed possible. But reality always arrives suddenly and without warning, ready to destroy what seemed solidly built. The Ugljevik power plant, one of the largest producers of electricity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was put into operation in 1985. To build it, nearly 200 households had to be relocated from nearby villages. Coal is mined in an open pit to meet the needs of the plant. In the past four years, the mine’s expansion has led to the eviction of around 50 more households. A few remaining families still live near the pit.
But more than history, this is a story of constant change—a metaphor for the turbulent lives and fates of the people in this region. A state of continuous exile, of severed roots and denied identity, deeply inscribed in the fragile weave of the “inner landscape” of people who persistently try to anchor themselves in this restless and unpredictable land.
@rovinj_photodays
I am honored to have been selected as a finalist for Rovinj Photo Days 2025 in the portrait category, winning second place.
Find out more: /en/finalist/mitar-simikic/
Like any river, the Janja weaves through the landscape, shaping time, destiny, and imagination. For centuries, it was a lifeline—nourishing crops, sustaining communities, and serving as a gathering place where children played and farmers thrived. But in the late 1970s, the construction of the Ugljevik power plant altered its course and ecology, turning it from a vital force of nature into a symbol of industrial change. My journey along the Janja’s path is an exploration of the river’s changing relationship with its environment. It is an attempt to understand the cultural, physical, economic, and ecological complexities that have shaped the Janja over the years.
@rovinj_photodays
