Among the professions in which Novi Sad could—and still can—compete with any other centre in former Yugoslavia and present-day Serbia is certainly that of a photo reporter.
It is no wonder, as both Dnevnik and Magyar Szó have always nurtured supreme photography, producing exquisite photo reporters who, over the past decades, can be divided into three generations.
The first, the eldest and truly majestic, included Jovan Vajdl, Stevan Lazukić, Gabor Ifju, Bora Vojinović, Maćaš Nemet, and others who led the way.
They were followed by their students, led by Jaroslav Pap, Martin Cindar, Branislav Lučić, Dragutin Savić, and others.
The undisputed leader of the third and youngest generation of photo reporters—who today dominate the media scene not only in Novi Sad but beyond—is certainly Darko Dozet. Infinitely talented, he had the opportunity—and the knowledge—to learn from masters such as Jovo Vajdl and Jaroslav Pap, while at the same time remaining genuine: authentic, inventive, and original.
This is why his “handwriting” can easily be recognized whenever one encounters his photographs—whether they depict ordinary people, document major events, or bear witness to human suffering, such as the migrant crisis, whose visual trace he has preserved for all time.
However, Dozet is most convincing and most authentic when guided by his primordial feelings. This was best represented in his cycle of photographs taken during his visits to Kosovo and Metohija, presented in the painful yet sublime exhibition “Roots of the Soul.”
If any of us had ever doubted where our true roots lay, after this exhibition, such doubts no longer remained.
All of this—and much more—makes this exceptional monograph a well-deserved gift to the author, and not only to him, on a significant anniversary.
Igor Mirović
President of Provincial
Government
