By the Creek, Opposite of a Meadow (2020) focuses on the Slovak environment and family memories. The work revolves around childhood memories that serve as a link between my parents’ and my own recollections of youth. I explored the historical and political climate of Slovakia, and my family’s transgenerational bond to the country through our contrasting youth-hoods experienced against the backdrop of two contradictory political systems – communism and capitalism.
This work pays attention to places within Slovakia – the sites in the archival photographs, where my -relatives were seeking »a sanctuary« during the rise of socialism in the country. These locations once represented and continue to symbolise their personal utopias, reminding them of their younger years before the revolution in 1989.
About the artist:
Michaela Nagyidaiová is a Slovak photographer based in Bratislava. Her work analyses the connection between landscape & memory, the transformation of Central & Eastern EU countries from communism to capitalism, identity and migration. Her projects are longterm, personal and allow her to combine photographs, text, archival documents.
