Jaroslav Kukal: Bezčasí (Timelessness)

From the accompanying text by the exhibition Curator, Jan Mlčoch: “The 70s in the Czech lands were a swamp which was threatened to be swallowed up by any movement. Not falling into despair was incomparably more difficult than obtaining scarce consumer goods. The environment of cultural and political dissent consisting of more or less isolated freer islands was captured in photographs from several points of view. The official, but at the same time hidden, view was recorded by the cameras of State Security workers. Totally opposite positions come from photographs by the few photographers who directly participated in Underground activities - either as direct participants or as witnesses. (...) Jaroslav Kukal was one of the few people who, by their contributions and immediacy, brightened up the stuffy atmosphere of standardisation. Although his work has been repeatedly recalled, photographic archives still await a more comprehensive treatment, extensive exhibition and book presentation. The photographer would have been 60 years of age today.”

Hospodářské noviny is the media partner of the exhibition.