2024-03-20 17:48:38
The opportunity to see the images of the legends of Czechoslovak documentary photography Pavel Dias and Tibor Huszár is always rare. Now, at one exhibition, they have connected with the work of the young Slovak photographer Karina Golisová, who explores the modern underground. On one side, a classic black-and-white documentary, on the other, its modern form. This is what the current exhibition Hidden Meanings in Prague’s Leica Gallery offers.
The Milota Havránková foundation is behind the idea of connecting the work of important photographers with the work of today’s talents. She too is a woman who made her mark in the history of Czechoslovak photography. She entered the art scene at the end of the sixties of the last century, when the young generation of the so-called photographic new wave appeared.
“The aim of the exhibitions, which combine two well-known photographers with one young one, is to draw attention to new names,” says Havránková. While last year it was a presentation of artistic photography, this year the exhibition focuses on a photographic documentary. Karina Golisová caught her attention, among other things, with her efforts to penetrate into the depth of the topic.
From memories of Auschwitz to the modern underground
The photographs of Pavel Dias (1938-2021) at the exhibition Archive of Hidden Meanings tell about memories of the horrors of Auschwitz, the funeral of Jan Palach in 1969 and everyday life in the 1960s. The photographs of Tibor Huszár (1952-2013) return to his native village of Reca, to the difficult life of its inhabitants. Karina Golisová (*1997) continues this classic documentary work with her series Underground. According to curator Miroslava Urbanová, all three authors are united by the quality of their work.
“Karin Golisová’s pictures depict her peers from the artistic community. You can feel a silent protest against the demands and the speed of time in which they are created,” the curator states. “I find it very difficult to photograph people I don’t know,” explains photographer Golisová. “For me, portraits are an intimate statement, not only about the given individual, but also about me and my relationship with that person,” he adds.
“Of course, I know the work of Pavel Dias and Tibor Huszár, their photographs are unreal,” says Golisová, who is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and FAMU in Prague. However, as she explains, the influences that shaped her work come from elsewhere. “I have always been more inspired by literature, film and visual arts than photography,” he states.
He has been documenting various currents of the modern artistic underground for several years. It is an environment in which she has many friends and acquaintances and which she knows intimately because she moves in it herself. He complements his pictures with interviews. She is interested in whether, according to the interviewees, the underground still exists, what its manifestations are, and also examines its boundaries with official culture. She published photographs and texts about the underground in the form of a zine, and when the Milota Havránková Foundation approached her, she decided to present this very topic at the exhibition.
About the exhibition:
Archive of hidden meanings: Pavel Dias, Tibor Huszár and Karina Golisová, Leica Gallery Prague, the exhibition will last until April 14. The curator is Miroslava Urbanová.