Fotomuseum Winterthur | Saturday, 27.01. – Sunday, 25.03.2001

Jitka Hanzlová – Rokytník / bewohner

In contrast to the prevailing trend of haste, the Czech photographer Jitka Hanzlová, who has lived in Germany since 1982, works quietly and calmly on her Portraits: portraits of children, farmers and women, and also of landscapes, of a tree in a field, of washing hanging on the line, of smoking ashes, and of the seasons. She approaches her subjects with a lightness and gentleness of touch, showing them quite simply as they really are, their innate being and their dignity. A delicate, almost fragile sense of colour pervades her pictures, giving them an atmosphere of their own.

In the series of photographs entitled Rokytník/bewohner (Rokytník/inhabitants), Jitka Hanzlová presents the rural world of her native village with its naturally evolved system of order and becomes involved in a biographical discussion with the conflict that ensues from her past life in the wide “open” countryside and the strictly structured, encapsulated “closed in” life in the city. The booklet bewohner (inhabitants) will be reissued for the exhibition.

The exhibition was curated by Urs Stahel.