Velvet images and words

Coinciding with the 21st anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, "Velvet 17," curated by photographer Minna Pyyhkala, presents a mosaic of photographs by herself and seven others that collectively document and probe how Czech society has adapted to the transformation from communism to a new way of life over the past 21 years.

At the Superstudio in Holešovice, each artist's series has its own room, allowing viewers to concentrate on the individual themes each one has chosen for the show, which taken together present a collage-like portrait of Czech society in 2010.

Some of the artists chose themes that are particularly close to them. Pyyhkala, whose brother was born blind, is exhibiting a series of 13 large black-and-white portraits of Czechs who have visual disabilities. She focuses particularly on opportunities in education, employment and daily life. In comparison with countries such as the United States, where her brother, like many of his blind friends, holds an upper management position, job discrimination remains a big problem for blind people in the Czech Republic.

Pyyhkala presents a microcosm of the different forms of discrimination that have remained entrenched after the fall of the totalitarian system, such as societal attitudes toward Roma and people with physical disabilities.

A series by Lindy van Kats presents eight color portraits of teachers in their schools. Most of these teachers are of the generation that went from being addressed as soudružka (comrade) - to paní učitelka (teacher) practically overnight, and many are Russian-language teachers who were immediately reassigned as teachers of English.

Much has changed in Czech schooling, but in the accompanying texts, we learn that the post-revolution period has not been easy for teachers, who have had to navigate new waters without guidelines or training.

A series of black-and-white portraits by Talitha Brauer captures people from all walks of life. In interviews, the photographer asked all of her subjects, "How has life changed or stayed the same?" Their responses and life stories together with their portraits offer a broad tableau of Czech society 21 years on.

A daughter of a political prisoner in one of Brauer's shots talks about the effects of the revolution on her family and personal relationships. One man who worked as a laborer all week and was a minister who rotated among different towns on weekends believed that spiritual life was stronger under communism. A pensioner photographed at her kitchen table with eggs talked about how price increases for basic foodstuffs have far outstripped rises in incomes, saying, "Governments always want to take your money, no matter who is in charge."

Czech artist Šárka Therová takes us on a trip back to the 1970s and '80s with her series of color photographs of iconic objects that powerfully evoke the daily atmosphere of the Normalization era in which she was raised. Included among them are a Soviet-made car, an old snapshot of a family trip to the chilly seaside in East Germany, a pantry full of home-canned food provisions, a typical string shopping bag, and céčky - the colorful plastic Cs children used to collect and link into chains.

Therová had a large role in creating a fun installation on the ground floor: a typical living room from the era, walls painted with the stencil rolls popular at the time, and the floor crowded with period furniture.

Melanie Blanding presents nine black-and-white photos in a 3 x 3 square formation that portray a gray and desolate Prague in the totalitarian era. An integral part of her installation is the song "City of Hysteria" by Půlnoc, an offshoot of the legendary Plastic People of the Universe - whose members gave a concert at the show's opening.

Czech photographer Honza Horák interviewed and photographed contemporary Prague teenagers to gauge their perspectives on what happened in the past and whether it has any relevance to their lives.

Lukáš Cetera's color and black-and-white images convey a sense of isolation: a swing set in movement without any children on it, a solitary parked car covered with a tarp.

Saneesh Sukurmaran's seven black-and-white photographs on the theme of products of communism poetically capture mundane items that are symbolic of the totalitarian era, such as toilet paper and gas masks.

"Velvet 17" is a collage of life in the Czech Republic from eight unique perspectives, ranging from Czech photographers who grew up and were educated under the old regime to artists from other countries who have come to live in the Czech Republic - a phenomenon that in itself has contributed to significant changes in Czech society since 1989.

The resulting montage examines the significant steps this country has taken toward the kind of civic society envisioned by Václav Havel and the Civic Forum, and where it still has a long way to go.

It is noteworthy that all the photographers shot with traditional film cameras. Perhaps the conscious use of old-school film offers an analogy in 2010: Democracy is taken for granted by many Czechs, like the ubiquitous digital camera. This especially applies to the generation born after 1989, and "Velvet 17" should be seen particularly by them. The extensive texts accompanying the photos give vital context to the images. As one of the artists, Talitha Brauer, notes: "It's like walking through a book."

Mimi Fronczak Rogers can be reached at
Features@praguepost.com