Art memorial
HE had never trained to be an artist, but after visiting the mass graves of Bosnia, Glasgow forensic technician Robert McNeil could not forget the horrors he saw there.
Years later, still disturbed by the images which lived on in his memory, he was compelled to depict his experience through painting.
Next Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, when Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic massacred 8372 men and boys in the greatest atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
Some of McNeil’s paintings, which present the challenging themes of loss, grief and the scientific processes involved in conflict zones, are now on display at the St Mungo Museum of
Religious Life and Art. Witness, Subjugation and Srebrenica Women are part of Remembering Srebrenica, a wider programme of commemorations which has been taking place across Glasgow and beyond in 2020 to commemorate the 25th anniversary. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, this month’s faceto-face commemorations have been cancelled, but Remembering Srebrenica Scotland is running a range of virtual events including a podcast series, Srebrenica Stories, featuring past charity delegates and those who lived or worked in Bosnia during the war.
A real-life timeline of events in Srebrenica from early July 1995 told through the experiences of one Bosniak teenager and her family, recounting the fateful days when she was separated from