05/18/2024 – 17:41
“The important thing in photographs is not who is Russian and who is Czech. The important thing is that one person has a gun and the other does not. And the one that doesn’t have it is actually the strongest, even though it doesn’t seem like it right away.” In August 1968, Czech photographer Josef Koudelka (1938), one of the biggest names in this art, began documenting what was happening on the streets of Prague, in what was then Czechoslovakia. He had never worked in photojournalism, but he began recording the invasion of Czechoslovakia by armies of the Warsaw Pact, which was led by the Communist Party of the then Soviet Union, along with countries such as East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Over the course of seven dramatic days, Koudelka created one of the most important photojournalistic works of the 20th century, with images that show military oppression and the struggle for freedom. And it is these images that will be on display for free from today (18) at the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), in the capital of São Paulo.
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Called Koudelka: Gypsies, Prague 1968, Exiles, the exhibition presents three photographic series by Koudelka. It is curated by the artist himself, organized by Samuel Titan Jr. and Miguel Del Castillo. For the Prague 1968 series, 11 photographs are being presented that present the invasion of the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops, an event that abruptly interrupted the period celebrated as Prague Spring.
Koudelka was in São Paulo this Saturday morning to speak to the public present at the IMS auditorium, which was absolutely packed. In conversation with journalist Dorrit Harazim, he said that he became known as a photographer precisely after these images taken in Prague. “I was never a reporter. I have never lived as such an important person. I simply reacted to what was happening,” he said. “My photos have a documentary tradition. I wasn’t acting there as a journalist, I was simply reacting to those facts,” he added.
In addition to this series, the IMS also presents its recognized work documenting gypsies. Gypsies it was the first series that the photographer dedicated to a single theme. He worked as an aeronautical engineer and also recorded rehearsals and theater shows, when he became interested in the subject. These photographs on display at IMS were taken between 1962 and 1970, most of them in Roma camps in eastern Slovakia.
111 photographs were selected for this series. “I don’t know exactly what made me start photographing gypsies, but I know for sure that once I started, I couldn’t stop – even though I sometimes wanted to,” said the photographer once in an interview with Czech writer Karel Hvížd’ala. He repeated this same phrase today in São Paulo, adding that he started photographing gypsies because he identified with the folk music they made. “Photographing gypsies is not that easy, but one of the reasons I never stopped doing it – even if I wanted to – is because someone was always playing something. And when that happened, I knew I had to start again,” he said.
Already Exiles presents 74 works that began to be produced in 1970, when he left Czechoslovakia. Here he records travels through several European countries documenting religious celebrations, traditional popular festivals, everyday life, landscapes, shadows and still lifes.
The exhibition runs until September 15th. More information about the exhibition, which has free entry, can be found at site from the museum.
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