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Ruined Landscapes Paintings of the Balkan War Zone

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Paintings of the Balkan war zone accompany text by Yockey in this exceptional example of war photography which also is recommended for students of Balkan history. The paintings reflect observations of culture as serving as examples of art history in motion: Ruined Landscapes deserves a place in both art and history library collections as a moving set of portraits of the Balkan war experience.

I served as part of the NATO forces in Sarajevo in early 1996, a little after and before the periods that Laura Buxton was there. I saw war-ravaged Bosnia coming back to life after years of conflict. A decade later, after retiring from the military, I began painting my own memories of that period. Then I discovered Buxton and this book. She is an excellent painter, with a keen eye, a fine ability with paint, and a storyteller's instinct for what to include and what to leave to the viewer's imagination. I had been to many of the places she painted, and her work is absolutely right. It is NOT photographic, it is much deeper than that: she finds the essence of the story and brings it across in a way that a camera never can. After reading this book, I tracked down her work on exhibit in Charlotte, NC, and spent a long time in front of them. And I don't do paintings of Bosnia any more. Laura's eye was much better than my foggy memories at telling the story. Laura Buxton is good. This book is good. And the story needs to be told.