Evon O. Imperfect Light

Inat Kuća – The House of Spite, Sarajevo

Inat Kuća – Spite House

I didn’t take this photograph because the building was beautiful – though it is. I took it because of the story it carries.

This is Inat Kuća, the “House of Spite” – a name born from defiance. When the Austro-Hungarian authorities planned to build the City Hall across the river, a stubborn houseowner refused to move unless they relocated his house, brick by brick, to the other side. They did. And he watched it rise from across the Miljačka, his spite immortalized in wood and stone.

I was drawn to the green bay window jutting out like a jawline, unbothered and proud. The sun carved shadows across its face, as if underlining the house’s character. I didn’t edit those lines away. I wanted the grit. The texture. The unapologetic presence.

In that moment, the house reminded me of Bosnia itself: unyielding, poetic, and full of stories that begin with resistance and end in resilience.

This post is part of the “Imperfect Light” series – you can read the introduction here.

Evon O. Imperfect Light

Vječna vatra – The Eternal Flame, Sarajevo

Vječna vatra – The Eternal Flame

I stood before the flame and couldn’t move.

It flickered not with fury, but with memory. The wind teased it, the traffic rushed behind me, but the fire held steady – unyielding, quiet, alive. Just like Sarajevo.

This is the Vječna vatra, the Eternal Flame, lit in 1946 to honour the liberators of the city after Wolrd War II. The inscription behind it speaks of unity – of Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs, Jews, and all who fought side by side. It’s a language of defiance and remembrance, written in stone and fire.

I took this photo not just to document a monument, but to preserve a moment: the tenderness of the wilted flowers, the scarred marble, they way the flame dared to glow even in daylight. In a city that has known both liberation and siege, this flame speaks a truth beyond politics.

It says:

We remember.

We endure.

We remain.

This image is a tribute to Sarajevo’s layered soul – burned, but not broken. And to the quiet fire that survives in every Bosnian heart.

This post is part of the “Imperfect Light” series – you can read the introduction here.

Evon O. Imperfect Light

Rose Without a Name

Sarajevo Rose
This is a flower
that bloomed in fire,
its petals not fragrant,
but final.

No vase,
no grave,
no last goodbye.

Only footsteps now,
hurrying past what once screamed.
Only silence,
remembering louder than war.

Kneel,
and the city will tell you
what it costs
to keep blooming.

This post is part of the “Imperfect Light” series – you can read the introduction here.

Evon O. Imperfect Light

Ljubavno pismo Bosni i Hercegovini

Moody oil painting of Bascarsija in Sarajevo.

Priča iza serije Imperfect Light: Gdje je svjetlost preživjela.


Onima koji ovu zemlju zovu domom, i onima koji njeno sjećanje nose u sebi—

Nisam Bosanska.

Nisam odrasla sa pričama ove zemlje
urezanim u porodične zidove.
Nisam izgubila dom ovdje.
Nisam preživjela rate.

Ali kada sam dosla u Bosnu i 
Hercegovinu u proljeće 2024, nešto u
meni se probudilo – tiho, ali snažno. Kao da sam stigla na mjesto koje me čekalo cijelo vrijeme.

Nisam došla da uzmem.
Došla sam da slušam.

Fotografije u ovoj seiji nastale su isključivo putem mog telefona – ne kao izjava, već kao odraz mog načina gledanja: jednostavno, instinktivno, i s onim što mi je bilo u rukama.
Pjesme su napisane naknadno, ne da odjasne slike, već da odaju počast onome što je ostalo neizrecčeno.

Ovaj projekt nije dokumentarni. Nije politička izjava.
To je, jednostavno rečeno, ljubavno pismo – ispisano u svjetlosti koja nije bila savršena,
u tišini koja još uvijek odjekuje,
u divljenju koje još uvijek traje.

Narodu Bosne i Hercegovine:
Ako sam nešto pogrešno prikazala,
Dobrodošla je vaša ispravka.
Ako sam dotakla nešto sveto, nadam se
da je to bilo s poštovanjem.
A ako sam odala počast makar jednoj
uspomeni – onda je ovaj projekt imao smisla.

Hvala vam što ste mi dopustili da vidim vašu zemlju – i da je osjetim.

Tokom narednih sedmica, dijelit ću djeliće serije Imperfect Light – fotografiju po fotografiju, pjesmu po pjesmu.

Svaka od njih fragment sjećanja, trenutak tišine, ljubavno pismo ispisano sjenom I preživljavanjem.

Ako želiš koračati ovim putem sa mnom, možeš se pretplatiti ispod istražiti arhivu vlastitim tempom.
Evon O. Imperfect Light

A Love Letter to Bosnia & Herzegovina

Moody, oil painting of Bascarsija in Sarajevo.

The story behind “Imperfect Light: Where Light Survived/Gdje je svjetlost preživjela”

To those who call this land home, and to those who carry its memory—

I am not Bosnian.

I did not grow up with the stories of this 
land etched into my family’s walls. 
I did not lose a home here.
I did not survive the war.

But when I came to Bosnia & Herzegovina 
in the spring of 2024, 
something inside me stirred—
something quiet and immediate, as if I 
had finally arrived somewhere that had
been waiting for me all along.

I did not come here to take.
I came to listen.

The photographs made in this series were made entirely on my iPhone – not as a statement, but as a reflection of how I see: simply, instinctively, and with whatever I have in my hands.

The poems were written afterward, not to explain the images, but to honour what they left unsaid.

This project is not a documentary.  It is not a political statement.
It is, quite simply, a love letter – written
in light that was imperfect,
in silence that still echoes,
in awe that still lingers.

To the people of Bosnia & Herzegovina:
If I have gotten anything wrong, I
welcome your correction.
If I have touched anything sacred, I hope
it was with care.
And if I have honoured even one memory—
Then this project has meant something.

Thank you for letting me see your country – and feel it.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing pieces from Imperfect Light – photo by photo, poem by poem.

Each one is a fragment of memory, a moment of stillness, a love letter written in shadow and survival.

If you’d like to walk this journey with me, you can subscribe below or explore the archive at your own pace.

Thank you for reading with an open heart.

Evon O. Simoon

Ode to Bosnia & Herzegovina

I waited 15 years—
15 seasons of dreaming,
of tracing your contours
on paper and memory,
till you became more than a place—
you became a promise.

And when I arrived,
you met me like an old friend
at the edge of the map,
your arms wide with rivers,
your skies painted in prayers.

Kravice fell before me—
not water, but wonder,
a cascade so surreal
it could’ve been born
from a Chinese brushstroke,
each veil of mist a silent verse
suspended between heaven and earth.

I crossed the Stari Most
as if entering a temple,
each footstep slowed
by the weight of stories—
resilience carved in stone,
sorrow folded into arches
now lit with hope.

In Baščaršija,
I did not wander – I returned.
The scent of coffee and copper
wrapped around me
like a familiar shawl.
I knew those streets.
Not in this life, perhaps,
but certainly in one
where I once called Sarajevo home.

The people…
they smiled not with politeness,
but with recognition.
As if they, too,
had been waiting for me to arrive—
a misplaced puzzle piece
finally finding its place
among mountains, minarets,
and the slow poetry of the land.

Six days passed
like a single exhale.
Not enough–never enough—
to gather the threads
of all that I felt.
But I left with a heart fuller
than it had ever been.

And I will return.
Not to revisit—
but to continue
the love letter
we began
the moment
I first whispered
your name.