VÁCLAV PODESTÁT: FAR AND NEAR

Organized by: Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and The Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University in Opava
Curator: Vladimír Birgus
Co-operation in UPM: Jan Mlčoch
Exhibition design: Dušan Seidl
Graphic design: Vladimír Vimr

Václav Podestát’s solo exhibition Far and Near presents a selection of his works in the field of subjective documentary from 1990 to 2022. Important Czech documentary photographer, graduate of the Department of Photography at FAMU in Prague and associate professor at the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University in Opava, trusts the viewers with many things. He relies on their willingness to empathise with the mood of the images, to cooperate in deciphering the symbolic meanings of the photographs, to notice small details and discover contrasts and analogies of various motifs. The author does not provide clear instructions on how his photographs should be read, but they almost always radiate nostalgia and a subtle sadness. The main role in Podestát’s pictures is usually played by a man, although many do not directly reveal his presence and often show him as an individual standing out from the surrounding noisy crowd and immersing himself in his inner self.