UKRAINE AT WAR: STREET ART, POSTERS + POETRY

I was in Kyiv, Ukraine, for three weeks in August 2022. I took photos, met artists, and gathered material for a book about popular art during the war. 

Ukraine At War - with a Foreword by Andrey Kurkov and an Introduction by Emma Mateo - includes 18 new war poems written by Ukrainian citizens from all over the country.

Ukraine At War (320 pages, hardback, square format, full-colour) will be available on 12 December 2023. It is published by Interlink Books and distributed by Simon & Schuster.

UKRAINE AT WAR: STREET ART, POSTERS + POETRY

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LOOK INSIDE

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WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"British filmmaker Sarhandi-Williams (Bosnian War Posters) spotlights the perseverance of art during war in this insightful collection of poetry and street art created by Ukrainians since the 2022 Russian invasion. Contending that “the Arts allow us to see beyond the shifting daily headlines... to core human values and deeper spiritual concerns,” Sarhandi-Williams gathers poems from a website hosted by the State Arts Agency of Ukraine, “where Ukrainian citizens can freely upload their work.” The tone of the poems varies; Anna Schmidt’s merciless “Wild Orcs” likens Russian soldiers to the savage goblins from The Lord of the Rings (a “mindless horde... no longer human”), while in Nataliia Samruk’s rueful “The Keys to Happiness,” a woman “still trembling from having survived” recalls that she’s holding “the keys to past happiness,” including one “from the station waiting room/ Where no more trains will arrive for ages.” The volume’s visual art embodies Ukrainian resilience, whether in photos of a young woman posing in front of a tank as if she were a fashion model, or folk artist Varvara Logvyn’s vibrant images of plants and flowers painted on steel antitank obstacles. This thoughtful assemblage brings into focus the myriad responses Ukrainians have had to the invasion. It’s an enlightening and worthwhile volume."

ANDREY KURKOV

“This book will guide you through today’s Ukraine more honestly than any future history might.”

HAIRAN

I am currently editing a collection of poetry by Iranian women with a large group of collaborators.

HAIRAN will contain the work of 72 established feminist Iranian poets, plus original self-portraits 0f the poets, and a selection of Iranian political posters. 

This important book will be published in autumn 2024 by Scotland Street Press. More information soon...

BOSNIAN WAR POSTERS

Published to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Bosnian War, this beautiful book is now available from Interlink Books.

It is distributed worldwide by Simon & Schuster.

Principal texts are in original English with Bosnian language translations.

SPECIFICATIONS

10 x 8 inches (25 x 20 cm) / Softback

Full colour / 336 pages / 340 images / 2 maps

Introduction by Daoud Sarhandi

Forewords by Carol A. Wells,
Bojan Hadžihalilović, and Vehid Špehić

Afterwords by Rupert Wolfe Murray, Daoud Sarhandi, Alina Boboc, and Steven Gordon

English language, with Bosnian language translations of principal texts

Principal texts are by Carol A. Wells, an expert in political design. Carol is the founder and director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles. Her Foreword places the posters within a historical context. A second Foreword is by Bojan Hadžihalilović, Bosnia's most well-known designer and one of the team behind the Greetings From Sarajevo postcards that have been exhibited worldwide.

Bosnian War Posters

BACK COVER TEXT:

Bosnian War Posters is a unique compilation of posters and political graphic design. It includes key archive photos from the war as well as new photos that put all the images in context today.

This book illustrates the entire conflict: from April 1992—when the first shots were fired in Sarajevo—to December 1995—when peace was agreed upon in Dayton, Ohio. Subsequent images depict the post-war reconstruction period and the hunt for war criminals.

The posters were gathered together in Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia shortly after the Bosnian war ended. They form the only large, pan-Bosnian collection of such material that exists, offering an eyewitness account of the war from the point of view of those who lived through all its horrors.

A unique pictorial study of the bloodiest European conflict since 1945, Bosnian War Posters will engage all those interested in graphic design, poster art, the tragic story of Yugoslavia, and the politics of nationalism in the modern age.

LOOK INSIDE

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WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THIS BOOK

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Filmmaker Sarhandi (Evil Doesn’t Live Here) delivers an unusual history of the Bosnian War (1992–1995) focused on propaganda posters created and distributed by various players in the conflict. Noting that posters “were a cheap and effective way of disseminating information” at a time when normal communications were disrupted and most news came by word of mouth, Sarhandi describes “rival ideological groups” tearing down each other’s work; profiles members of the Trio design studio in Sarajevo, the Forum of Tuzla Citizens, and other activist collectives; lucidly explains the Balkans’ complex political, religious, and ethnic divisions; and sketches how the rise of nationalist parties in Serbia and Croatia contributed to the conflict. But the book shines in its presentation and analysis of the posters themselves, many of which reappropriated imagery from the Spanish Civil War and WWII or recast commercial iconography (Mickey Mouse, Coca-Cola) in order to make their case. Detailed captions explain the meaning and background of each artwork, shedding light on the origins of anti-Muslim sentiment in Croatia, the horrors of the siege of Sarajevo, and Serbian nationalists’ use of Vietnam War imagery to warn the U.S. to stay out of the conflict. Handsomely presented and rigorously detailed, this is a captivating look at the art of propaganda."

BOJAN HADŽIHALILOVIČ 
Trio studios, Sarajevo

“Bosnian War Posters is, without a doubt, one of the most significant books about the war in Bosnia. It is not a romanticised visual biography of the conflict, but an almost punky book about good and bad, love and death, the role of the media, and the truth.”

Bojan Hadžihalilović, a founder member of Trio Studios, has contributed a short foreword to the second edition.

CAROL WELLS
Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), Los Angeles

"The book is an important contribution to understanding the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It also shows the value of posters as primary historical documentation. Most poster books use graphics to illustrate their perspective; this one uses them to illustrate the complexity of the struggle and the fluidity of the sides—an important lesson for understanding social movements or wars, or anything else for that matter. The way the posters are used is exactly what CSPG is trying to do."


Carol Wells, the founder and president of CSPG, has written a foreword to the second edition.

ABC of Film & Video Editing

ABC of Film & Video Editing is currently undergoing a final edit. 

It will be available worldwide in 2025.

ABC of Film & Video Editing

Practical & Creative Working Dictionary for Filmmakers & Film Editors

BACK COVER TEXT:

Every sphere of human activity has its vocabulary, and film editing is no different. The more than 550 creative terms and technical expressions defined and discussed in ABC of Film & Video Editing constitute the core of film editing language. Grasping them–as well as understanding how they connect–is essential if we wish to develop as film editors and filmmakers.

ABC of Film & Video Editing has been written for those new to the craft, as well as filmmakers and video creators of all strands, since everybody involved in audiovisual production—including those who appear in front of the camera—can benefit from knowing more about the way films are constructed. The author’s descriptions illuminate all aspects of what film editors do.

ABC of Film & Video Editing contains a multitude of professional tips and explanations, an appraisal of the important role women have played in the history and practice of film editing, and reviews of other good books on the subject. ABC of Film & Video Editing is the first complete and in-depth lexicon of the formal, informal and technical language film editors use.

British filmmaker Daoud Sarhandi has been a documentary film editor at the BBC in London and a multidisciplinary filmmaker and teacher in Mexico City—from where his feature films won many prizes all over the world. He now lives and works in Spain, where he continues to teach film editing and make award-winning films. He has more than 200 credits in ten categories at Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com).

Eye magazine

"Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture."

Eye magazine

From Mexico, between 2002 and 2012, I wrote a series of in-depth socially-themed articles (as well as blogs) for London-based quarterly Eye. These texts can be read on the Eye website, although they are not accompanied by the images curated by me and included in the original print versions. 

I consider the first article I wrote for Eye in 2002 to be the best and most important:

In any colour so long as it’s white: Why does Mexican advertising look nothing like the Mexicans?

Click here for other texts.