Art deserves to be Czeched out

A small group of people met in downtown Pittsburgh in 1918 to discuss the creation of an… A small group of people met in downtown Pittsburgh in 1918 to discuss the creation of an independent country set to be called Czechoslovakia. The meeting proved successful, and because of the declaration’s local roots, it has since been known as the ‘Pittsburgh Agreement.’

With this historical relevance as a backdrop, SPACE Gallery, a building that sits just blocks away from where the ‘Pittsburgh Agreement’ was signed, has opened a new exhibit titled ‘Czech It.’ The exhibit showcases 11 photographers, each representing one of three generations that have seen a different side of the country that is now called the Czech Republic.

Jen Saffron, co-curator of ‘Czech It,’ was inspired to bring the Czech Republic to a Pittsburgh audience partly because of its historical context, but also because of the Czech photographers she had met in the past.

Saffron studied under Jindrich Streit, one of the big name Czech artists showcased at the gallery. Also during that time, she briefly visited with Antonin Dufek, a well-known writer and historian of Czech photography.

‘He really turned me onto the Czech avant-garde,’ said Saffron of Dufek. ‘Since then, I’ve had a vision to bring this photography to Pittsburgh. [Avant-garde] has such importance in history, but it’s little known in the U.S.’

Avant-garde is not the only style offered in ‘Czech It,’ though. The focus is more on the evolution of a country seen through the lens of a camera. The photographs range from the 1920s to present, placing a spotlight on the impact of political changes within the country — from a period of war and social oppression to a time of freedom brought forth by the Czech Republic’s Velvet Revolution.

According to Saffron, the country’s deterioration and eventual rebirth and the transcendence of photography through all of it is something worth taking a second look at.

‘I think it’s important to recognize the heritage — what they do now and what they did in the past,’ she said. ‘I wanted to showcase great photography, but also how photographers in a country with such an interesting political history have responded to social and political concerns.’

The work of Streit, which documents the struggles of rural villagers, was once censored by the government for its content. His black-and-white photographs of people living in poverty reveal a harsh reality that existed before the revolution. In ‘Sovinec,’ Streit depicts a human contentment in these sad conditions. Two women stand smiling, cloaked from head to toe in furs, in front a ramshackle house.

In contrast, the colorful portraits by Evzen Sobek, entitled ‘Life in Blue,’ show individuals exempt from political oppression. Smiling faces, rounded bellies and revealing bathing suits are set against a watery reservoir in the Moravian city of Brno, portraying a scene of complete freedom.

Kristina Milde’s work stands out on the walls because her subjects are not human, but rather Barbies. The plastic figures are posed nude, other times clothed, in the scenes of famous paintings. With her work, Milde comments on the shaping of female identity.

Offering another statement on women, Dana Kyndrova created ‘Woman between Inhaling and Exhaling,’ a body of work that displays females in various scenes of life — some pleasant to see, others somewhat jarring. SPACE showcases a few examples of this project.

Avant-garde photographers Jaromir Funke and Eugen Wiskovsky, representing a style linked to the 1920s and ’30s, employed somewhat mundane objects and ideas for their projects. With these images, they enhance them or distort them to create more abstraction. In Funke’s ‘Eye,’ a shiny, magnified eye stands out amongst a blurry background of buildings.’

‘Czech It’ was co-curated by Eva Heyd, the director of the Prague House of Photography. Based in the Czech Republic’s capital, the Prague House of Photography is a non-profit institution that showcases classical and contemporary photography, while educating people through lectures and catalogs.

Together, Saffron and Heyd put faith in the idea that such a far-away topic can be welcomed in a city such as Pittsburgh, with its deep, somewhat forgotten Czech roots.’ According to Saffron, the exhibit’s first day in existence proved to be an example of social interest.

‘We had 300 people at the opening night, so I think people want to pay attention,’ said Saffron.