In July 1995, following three years of horrific ethnic war between Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs in the former Yugoslavia, war crimes intensified against the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia. United Nations peacekeepers abandoned a safe zone to Bosnian Serb forces, who in a single day killed more than eight thousand men and boys, and raped and expelled thousands of women and children in the largest genocide in Europe since the Holocaust.

In the aftermath of the genocide, a group of mothers came together to try to find the bones of their family members. Since then, the Mothers of Srebrenica Association has become a formidable organization that remains committed to disrupting the cycle of genocide that took the lives of their families and friends and still haunts their every day. They have fought to establish a burial ground, helped open a memorial center, compiled evidence to prosecute the perpetrators, secured an international day of remembrance, and built a home (on land where the genocide occurred) that they use as a base of operations and a guesthouse.

In 2024, British artist Hannah Rose Thomas and I traveled to stay with the Mothers of Srebrenica as part of an ongoing project of my organization, Bellwether International, to provide trauma healing and to honor these mothers who have rebuilt their community after the genocide. After three days breaking bread with them, picking wildflowers for tea, and sharing quiet moments, they allowed us to interview them and capture their photographs to begin the process of painting their portraits.

It is hard to miss the reminders of the genocide in Srebrenica. Street names honor war criminals. Serbian flags can be seen on nearly every building. And yet amidst uneasiness, tension, and outright genocide denial, the Mothers of Srebrenica have made their lives a bulwark against the fear and hate that leads to genocide and erasure.

Back in England, it was incredible to watch Hannah begin painting their portraits. How do you capture such stories and experiences – the pain, the resilience, the hope, the energy, the despair – with a brushstroke? In Hannah’s words, “The painstaking early Renaissance egg tempera and oil painting methods that I use are, for me, a form of prayer, and can take weeks. It is an extraordinary privilege to be trusted to paint someone’s portrait; I hope my paintings reflect some of the light that radiates from these remarkable women.”

These portraits were unveiled at the Srebrenica Memorial Center as part of the thirtieth anniversary commemoration events held in July 2025.

All artwork by Hannah Rose Thomas, sponsored by Bellwether International. Photography by Lauren Knuckey.

Bida

“Not all mothers find bones.”

Bida’s son and seventy-year-old mother were murdered during the genocide. She stayed in hiding for over a month to escape from her neighbors.

Munira

“Every mother is a mother. No matter if she lost a son who is a war criminal or a victim.”

Munira lost twenty-two members of her family during the genocide. In 2013, she buried the only found remains of her youngest son, just two small bones. Following the genocide she started the Mothers of Srebrenica Association to rebuild her life, community, and country. Over 5,500 children lost one or both parents during the genocide. The Mothers of Srebrenica have brought many of these children into their home and their mission to fight for truth, justice, and accountability. Munira’s phone rings constantly as she speaks to her many children who have gone on to live successful lives all over the world.

Julia

“I can’t look at their pictures now … I have pictures. To see my son, the younger one – when you see his eyes, you’d immediately shed tears.”

Julia lived just outside Srebrenica on the Serbian border and remembers always getting along with her neighbors, until one day a neighbor warned her that when the green berets come she should leave and never look back. Thirty-three members of her maternal extended family were executed on a single day in what had been the UN Srebrenica safe zone.

Kada

“I can’t understand, and I wasn’t expecting, that someone who is actually a part of me, my neighbor, would start a war against me.”

When the shooting started and grenades were fired through the walls of her home, Kada and her family fled to the forest to survive. Every night she would go back to the village and make bread in their home and milk the cows to keep her family alive. One night when she returned she found eight people from her community had been burned alive in her home. After the war she worked with Munira to start the Mothers of Srebrenica Association.

Nura

“After so many years, we still haven’t given up and we won’t give up.”

Nura lost many members of her family during the genocide, including her only brother, who was killed in front of her. Nura started her own survivors’ association in 1995 and later combined efforts with Munira and Kada to serve under the umbrella of Mothers of Srebrenica. She has helped to find and uncover many mass graves. She continues to focus her efforts on finding missing loved ones – their bones, their stories – and helping to secure a proper burial for them.