Tajina
photography series, book
2023
photography series, book
2023
tajina, noun
1. a landscape containing an attribute
[in Czech, the word tajina rhymes with the word krajina
which translates to landscape; the word base taj means a mystery]
2. sacrament; a ceremony that conveys an invisible grace
through a visible symbol [Orthodox Church]
1. a landscape containing an attribute
[in Czech, the word tajina rhymes with the word krajina
which translates to landscape; the word base taj means a mystery]
2. sacrament; a ceremony that conveys an invisible grace
through a visible symbol [Orthodox Church]
Rocks and stones around us – ancient, unchanging. Rocks have become a metaphor for strength, certainty and faith. However, they are modelled by wind, water, ice.
Every day we hear news about the weather – the near future. Weather and the elements – fickle and immediate, change the landscape long-term and persistently,
but it is an almost invisible process; landscape time passes slowly compared to human time.
In 1921, a woman from South Bohemia started to write a diary about motherhood, in 2021, upon finding this diary, I continued writing in it after 100 years. The unknown writer from the diary must have had her children around the same time as my great-grandmother, who also comes from South Bohemia and whom I only know from photos
and stories. Yet, I have always felt a great deal of affection for her. The diary is a meeting place for three women who could have never met in person.
How and to what extent do the lives of our ancestors influence our future? Time in people's lives passes faster, it is tied to our memory. Things around us change their forms, and time overlaps. We are constantly standing on the edge, and that is the moment when something opens up in front of us: the invisible becomes visible and disappears again. The mystery – in its purest form, without the layers of meaning added by time – is a threshold.
Every day we hear news about the weather – the near future. Weather and the elements – fickle and immediate, change the landscape long-term and persistently,
but it is an almost invisible process; landscape time passes slowly compared to human time.
In 1921, a woman from South Bohemia started to write a diary about motherhood, in 2021, upon finding this diary, I continued writing in it after 100 years. The unknown writer from the diary must have had her children around the same time as my great-grandmother, who also comes from South Bohemia and whom I only know from photos
and stories. Yet, I have always felt a great deal of affection for her. The diary is a meeting place for three women who could have never met in person.
How and to what extent do the lives of our ancestors influence our future? Time in people's lives passes faster, it is tied to our memory. Things around us change their forms, and time overlaps. We are constantly standing on the edge, and that is the moment when something opens up in front of us: the invisible becomes visible and disappears again. The mystery – in its purest form, without the layers of meaning added by time – is a threshold.
Exhibition view
Pilsen Municipal Gallery, CZ
Kunsthalle Bratislava, SK /photo courtesy: OFF Bratislava archive/
Isolo17 Gallery, Verona, IT
Kuća Legata, Belgrade, RS
Pilsen Municipal Gallery, CZ
Pilsen Municipal Gallery, CZ