As Long We Are Together

This graphic novel depicts the childhood memories of Almasa Salihović, a survivor of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. It offers an intimate portrayal of the lives lost and the families forever transformed at the hands of irreparable oppression. As Long as We Are Together portrays Almasa Salihović’s survival of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, when Bosnian Serb forces under Ratko Mladić overran Srebrenica, a UN-declared safe area, in July 1995. Over several days, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were executed in an act of genocide, while women, children, and the elderly were forcefully displaced. Like many families in the region, Almasa's was uprooted by the war waged in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Almasa's story begins in the village of Skejići, where her family lived before the war. As violence escalated, they fled through surrounding forests in search of safety. Among the losses she carries is that of her older brother Abdulah, whose fate remains a profound wound in her family's history. By interweaving testimony, artistic process, and a landscape shaped by both trauma and resilience, As Long as We Are Together offers an intimate portrait of survival, remembrance, and the strength that sustains Almasa's life today. Developed with the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project, award-winning graphic novelist Anneli Furmark puts forth a new, arts-based way of gathering, understanding, and sharing the life experiences of survivors like Almasa Salihović by centring their agency.

Pagina's: 104, Paperback, University of Toronto Press