A Letter From the Publisher

By Elizabeth Valk Long

Within our pages, we've printed some of the most striking images of the war in the former Yugoslavia, but the totality of the tragedy demands more space than any magazine can give it. That's why, when the idea of mounting a photographic exhibit was presented to TIME's managing editor Jim Gaines and picture editor Michele Stephenson, they jumped at the opportunity. "Life and Time Warner had already sponsored an exhibit on Somalia, and we felt we should do the same for Bosnia," says Stephenson. "It was a chance to tell the whole story -- all sides and facets." The result is "Faces of Sorrow," a collection of 64 images that document the cruelties and suffering that have befallen Serbs, Croats and Muslims caught in the conflict.

Putting together the exhibit, now on view at the United Nations in New York City, was no simple task. "There was an extraordinary outpouring from photographers," observes Aaron Schindler of Photo Perspectives, who designed the show. He, along with Sandra Miocic and Mirna Safcak, two women of Croatian descent who first proposed the exhibit, culled the photos from more than 10,000 pictures. Their goal: to find graphically strong, informative and emotionally evocative images that would illustrate distinct agonies of the war -- ethnic cleansing, the siege of Sarajevo, the medical emergency, life in detention camps and refugee centers, and the rape of women. The process was exhausting and harrowing. "After two hours," says Schindler, "you were so emotionally drained that you wanted to cry. An afternoon of looking at refugee pictures left Sandra so depressed that she hallucinated while walking down the street."

The final selection of 64 pictures, one-third of them in black and white, represents the work of 36 photographers from 12 countries, including many whose pictures have appeared in our pages. Chosen as the emblem of the exhibit is a photo of a woman grieving at the funeral of her husband, a Croatian policeman killed in an ambush by Serbs of the Yugoslav National Army forces. It was taken by TIME's Christopher Morris, who has covered the war since its start and has provided some of its most powerful images. After the show closes in New York City on Oct. 2, it will tour the U.S., including stops in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington. We hope when you visit you will be as moved by these images as we are.