'Dark Room' in a dark pub

"Dark Room," Ashe Kazanjian's ongoing exhibition at the Sidecar Gallery in Žižkov's Blind Eye pub, displays the photographer's tender, unrelenting focus on the individuals who populate her work. A young boy eats a Wendy's hamburger, looking innocent and distrustful at once; an old man leans in tired defiance on the open hood of his pickup truck. Kazanjian's human subjects exist on the border of focus and dissolution as they surface for a moment from lush conceptual and compositional depths.

Kazanjian explained that her photographic method affects both what she photographs and how. "I prefer manual film with wide-angle lenses, which allow me to get a lot of low-light situations and create more of a soft, romantic feel," she says. "Most of the images are about a lack of light more than actual light."

The most alluring photos of the 12 on display in "Dark Room" are a series of four self-portraits of the artist in various bathroom mirrors. "Notorious" shows the challenging yet evasive stare of a woman holding a camera poised as a third eye in what appears to be a punk club bathroom, the glaring red walls crisscrossed with graffiti. "Many of these images are diary images, and there's an intimacy about it because I've chosen not to shy away from letting it be personal," Kazanjian says.

Stepping into the exhibition, one sees a series of unframed color prints strung at eyelevel across two walls - a design that does indeed create the atmosphere of a dark room. But Kazanjian says the unity of "Dark Room" extends beyond a sense of place.  "I try to put my audience in my shoes and convey the experience of these people at this place at this time," she says. "I show people in their element and people slightly out of their element."

"Dark Room" is Kazanjian's first solo exhibition. She has previously exhibited in New York City with the Antagonist Art Movement. Originally from Georgia, Kazanjian moved to New York to study theater, a subject that has informed her photography, teaching her "to observe people, to listen to what they're saying, also what they aren't saying."

"I like to get to know people and have them look into the camera, but I prefer the unposed moments when they're not smiling," she says. "The fractions of in-between emotions - that's what I try to capture in portraits."

"Dark Room," on display through July 4, continues the nascent movement of local photographers' work in Žižkov bars, a gesture Kazanjian supports without reservation. "I think it's a great idea to put art where people can see it and make it accessible," she says. "The whole point of art is for it to be seen."

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com