Domov(ina) - Heim(at) profile
DOMOV(INA) - HEIM(AT) /HOME(LAND)/
2012-13 / analogue photography / 2 artist books, open back sewn binding / 22 × 28 × 3 cm, digital print
This project reflects upon sense of belonging through perception of home and homeland, as well as upon how is this sense being formed in an environment which is not perceived as being fundamentally different from the original one. First book
comprises photographs and interviews with people aged from 20 to 60 years, originating from different regions of Slovakia and from different social backgrounds, all of them living in Vienna. My intention was not only to show the diversity of perception of home, but also to investigate how their life situations affected the decision to go abroad. This book, with the eponymous title, presents the portraited people in their home environment, in their broader context of their daily life (work, favorite places), then it focuses on their home interiors and still-lifes with commemorative (or otherwise distinctive) objects. The work is partially inspired by methods of visual sociology (typologies, methods of work with found visual material). Interviews are settled mainly around topics of leaving from the original place, building a new home, confronting with new environment, critical perception of Slovakia and, last but not least, personal values. The second book, titled << W - BA >> contains urban still-lifes of Bratislava, Vienna and their surroundings. It follows visually perceptible historical-societal similarities and differences of these two cities.
