PHOTO:Jitka Hanzlová-Forest,Part I
Jitka Hanzlová explores in her various series of photographs the individual, his surroundings, and the landscape in which he lives. In so doing, she often approaches the sites of her childhood, an aspect that she describes in the following terms. “The path that I take is a path back to look into the future” (Part II).
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Yancey Richardson Gallery Archive
Jitka Hanzlová in her solo exhibition s “Forest”, presents the series of photos she reated in the forest next to her childhood village near the Carpathian mountains, transforming the empty, wooded landscape into a symbol of memory and loss. Jitka Hanzlová was born and raised in Czechoslovakia before emigrating, in 1982, to Essen, Germany where she studied Communication Design at the University of Essen and where she continues to live and work. Emerging from her experience of two different political systems, her work is a profound meditation on European identity in a post-Cold War world. Hanzlová’s photography is in constant pursuit of the relationship between the individual and the context in which he or she lives. It scrutinizes the ways in which home and surroundings indelibly shape identity. Hanzlová first gained acclaim with her project “Rokytník” (1990-94) for which she returned to her hometown following a decade in exile. This melancholy collection of portraits and landscapes exemplifies her interest in the seemingly simple, familiar things that she asserts are in fact most complicated. This series became a foundation from which to explore themes of identity and place and the tensions between the individual and group, belonging and alienation, as well as past and present. These interests were expressed while photographing varied subjects such as her urban adopted home of Essen in “Bewohner” (1994-96), the Afro-Caribbean women living in London in her series “Brixton” (2002). In the series “Forest” (2000-05) she allows mythological dimensions to resonate. Hanzlová took photographs in the forests of her Czech homeland near the Carpathian Mountains. “The feel of a place is very important for my work” the artist explains, “especially the light”. She shows the forest as a metaphor, as a concrete landscape, but also as a site where the line dividing fantasy and reality becomes thin. Her photography, which is never subjected to editing after being taken, is striking in both its objectivity and its sensitivity. The artist has also photographed the unfamiliar landscapes, architecture, and culture of the Gifú prefecture in Japan in the series “Cotton Rose” (2004-05). Other series are: “Hier” (2005-10), “Flowers” (2009-12), “There is Something I Don’t Know” (2007-13), that reasserts her interest in portraiture and the creation of timeless representation. These portraits of contemporary Europeans assuming archetypal poses before a simple background pay homage to early Renaissance masterpieces, and “Horse” (2007-14).
Info: Yancey Richardson Gallery, 525 West 22nd Street, New York, Duration: 14/12/17-27/1/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.yanceyrichardson.com
