James Nachtwey, American, born 1948
Mourning a soldier killed by Serbs and buried in what was once a football field, Bosnia
1993
Digital photograph
James Nachtwey captured this powerful image outside of a small village in Bosnia, where all the young men had been called upon to defend their homes and families from Serbian attacks. So many men had died that a football field in the town was turned into a cemetery, and each day new bodies were identified and buried. Nachtwey spoke to these two men, who, before collapsing in grief at one of the graves, said that all their friends had been killed. Groups of mourners stand in the background among the etched planks of wood serving as headstones. With its innumerable stretch of improvised grave markers, this haunting image captures the soul-crushing grief and loss of war.