Mirko Krizanovic

Mirko Krizanovic, Buskashi, Afghanistan 2004, 40, 2 x 26, 7 cm, fine-art pigment-print
Mirko Krizanovic, Zeitungsleser, USA 1988, 26 x 40, 2 cm, fine-art pigment-print
Mirko Krizanovic, Palästinenserkind, Libanon 1993, 40, 2 x 27 cm, fine-art pigment-print
Mirko Krizanovic, Infanteristen der Zukunft, Afghanistan 2005, 40, 2 x 27, 4 cm, fine-art pigment-print
Mirko Krizanovic, Bosniake und Panzeraufklärer der Bundeswehr auf der Landstraße nach Mostar, Bosnien-Herzegowina, 1997, 40.2 x 27 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Bosnische Flüchtlinge in einem Auffanglager, Slavonska Pozega, Kroatien, 1992, 40.2 x 27.6 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Das Labyrinth, Aktion von Herder Spektrum auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse, Frankfurt am Main, 2002, 40.2 x 26.7 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Dorfstraße, Tobolsk, Russland 1993, 27.2 x 40.2 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Eisvergnügen, Murmansk, Russland, 1996, 40.2 x 27.1 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Eselsfahrt, Nouakchott, Mauretanien, 1996, 40.2 x 26.8 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Fahnenkreis um das Washington Monument, Washington D. C., USA, 1988, 40.2 x 27.3 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Familienleben in Ruinen, Beirut, Libanon, 1993, 40.2 x 27.3 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Hilfslieferung des Roten Kreuzes mit einem Hercules Transporter im Süd-Sudan, Wau, Sudan, 1989, 40.2 x 28.2 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Hutu-Flüchtlinge im Lager. Kibeho, Ruanda, 1995, 28.8 x 40.2 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Hutu-Flüchtlinge unterwegs, Ngozi, Burundi, 1995, 28.8 x 40.2 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Kanonenwagen am Monumento Historico Nacional a la Bandera, Rosario, Argentinien, 2000, 26.6 x 40.2 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Lenin-Denkmal, Nizhny Nowgorod, Russland, 1996, 40.2 x 26.9 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Lenin-Persiflage, Tschetschenen demonstrieren vor dem Präsidentenpalast, Grosnyj, Tschetschenien, 1996, 40.2 x 27.6 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Luther-Lektüre in einer Amtsstube, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1996, 40.2 x 27 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Mutprobe, Sprung vom Stari Most (Alte Brücke) in die Neretva, Mostar, Bosnien-Herzegowina, 1992, 40.2 x 27.6 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Neuanstrich für die Dorfkirche, Tobolsk, Russland, 1993, 40.2 x 27 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Obstverkäuferinnen, Koidu, Sierra Leone, 1996, 40.2 x 26.7 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Parteiparolen im Kraftwerk des Kombinats "Petschenga-Nikel", Nikels, Russland, 1996, 40.2 x 26.7 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Polizeistation mit der Büste des Nationalhelden José Martí am Eingang, Havanna, Kuba, 1991, 40.2 x 28.9 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Schön, schön, Besucherin in einem Steinmetzbetrieb, Carrara, Italien, 1998, 40.2 x 26.7 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Soldatenwache am Regierungspalast während der Wahlen, Bukarest, Rumänien, 1990, 40.2 x 26.6 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Spielende Kinder auf einem Sportplatz, Khartoum, Sudan, 1989, 40.2 x 26.7 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Taubenjagd am Rathenauplatz, Frankfurt am Main, 1989, 40.2 x 26.9 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Wartende Russin am Bahnsteig, Tjumen, Russland, 1993, 40.2 x 26.3 cm, pigment print
Mirko Krizanovic, Zerstörtes Zentrum, Beirut, Libanon, 1993, 40.2 x 26 cm, pigment print

History viewed from the edge

Our memory of significant events that occurred in the 20th century is hard to distinguish from the famous images of photojournalism we associate with them. The list of photographs illustrating these events, which we can all clearly recall in our mind’s eye, is long: It includes Robert Capa’s photo of a dying Republican soldier that evokes the horrors of the Spanish civil war, or Margaret Bourke-White’s images of the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp that attest to the suffering of millions during the Shoah. From Eddie Adams, Nick Út and Philip Jones Griffiths to Robert Lebeck and Barbara Klemm, particularly succinct photographs frequently act as emotional milestones, helping us to navigate the bumpy roads of history.

When in the early 1980s Mirko Krizanovic found a Pentax compact camera left in his taxi by a passenger, he did not yet know that he would one day enjoy a career as a photojournalist that would take him around the world. Years later, he worked on major stories as a staff photographer for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung together with colleagues such as Lutz Kleinhans, Wolfgang Haut or Barbara Klemm, where he learned the fast, precise trade of a journalist: The editorial office expected one picture per topic on its desk at the end of each day. This work approach not only trains the eye and instinct for the right situation, but is also indispensable for a photojournalist’s goal-oriented work.

Krizanovic’s topics are ambitious: Palestine, Bosnia, Romania, Chechnya, Slovenia, Lebanon, Ruanda and the USA. He has never shied away from the conflict regions of this world, even if the pictures he has published do not achieve the drastic expression that characterizes the work of many of his colleagues. They illustrate events often from the sidelines: People trying to recreate some familiar sense of normality having lost everything they owned, soldiers during lulls in combat, columns of refugees and reception camps. In many pictures, Krizanovic shows children at play and happy faces, even in the most inhospitable places.

Like many of his colleagues, Krizanovic relies on a combination of instinct, experience, fast reactions and of course luck to elicit a successful photograph from a certain situation. This gives his images a conciliatory dimension: They radiate warmth, humanity and a joy of life as well as hope for better times. A quality that already inspired the great pioneers of photojournalism not to resign themselves to the current situation, but to deliver images that strike a nerve: “That is the greatest incentive: To bring stories to the public eye and maybe, in this way, to help.”

Biographical information

1959

born in Subotica, Serbia

1970

immigrates to Germany

1983–87

works as a photojournalist for the "Darmstädter Tagblatt"

1987–94

works as a editorial staff photographer for "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"

since 1994

works as a freelance photographer for German magazines and newspapers such as "Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin", "taz", "Die Zeit" and "Cicero"

1999

receives the Kodak Photography Book Award

lives in Darmstadt, Germany and Ste. Marie-en-Chanois, France