Reconstruction of the past
Markéta Kubačáková
Reconstruction of the past is composed of three video pieces and one series of
photographs, which relatives the experience of the past and examine the traces of
a passed moment. The four artists, in their unique style, make contact with memories
and, as a constructional element of their work, use a narrative whose subject relates
to personal themes. The video pieces comprise the work of Daniela Baráčková
(Tramp,2006), Mark Ther (Ruhe, im Stalle furtzt die Kuh, 2007) and Tereza Velíková
(True story, 2003), and the series of photographs is exhibited by Petra Malá
(A ona řekla dyt se divá, 2008).
Petra Malá’s work deals with the imaginary world of personal memory and
recollections. In A ona řekla dyt se divá (And She Said She Was Looking), the pasts
of three generations – the artist’s her mother’s and her great-grandmother’s –
change imperceptibly. We trust the authenticity of photographs, even though they
exist between reality and fiction. Malá reconstructs the subjective viewing of events,
and the viewer is drawn into the captivating world of dreams. The one grounded point,
which actually exist, is the environment of the house of her great-grandparents, where
her whole family grew up. Other situations, views and expressions whirl by beyond
the boundary of descriptive documentation of family history. Similar to Kusturica’s
Arizona Dream each character in Petra Malá’s photography has their dreams and
desires… and somewhere behind it all is the ubiquitous suggestion of transience
and death.
Note: Excerpt from the text Reconstruction of the past.