{"id":284,"date":"2007-12-19T05:23:05","date_gmt":"2007-12-19T05:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?p=284"},"modified":"2007-12-19T05:23:05","modified_gmt":"2007-12-19T05:23:05","slug":"the-other-slovakia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Slovakia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Established photojournalist and native Slovak Andrej B\u00e1n seeks to capture the essence of his homeland in The Other Slovakia, a poetic and beautifully reproduced series of photographs. Of his approach, he explains: \u201cWhat interests me most is authentic life, the rituals and customs of ordinary people who seem to be living \u2018against the flow of time\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

A relatively young country in an area of Europe synonymous with instability, Slovakia was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then Czechoslovakia. It was overrun by the Nazis during the Second World War and Russia during the 1960s. Emerging from Soviet rule in the Velvet Revolution of 1989 it then separated from the Czech Republic in 1993. Less-known than its neighbour it has the appearance of a country on the margins of Europe. A recent addition to the EU, but still essentially poor and rural, the way of life reflected in B\u00e1n\u2019s pictures is comparable to that in the Irish Republic, pre-Celtic Tiger.<\/p>\n

There is more than a nod towards Josef Koudelka in these punchy black and white photographs, however, B\u00e1n\u2019s dynamic compositions have an integrity all of their own. His best images play with ways of seeing through off-kilter framing, multiple viewpoints and graphic quirks as well as visual humour and a fondness for the surreal. A man watches TV: the rumples in his shirt and trousers reflected in the undulating interference on the TV screen. At a circus a boy looks intently upwards out of the photo frame at a merry-go-round. Behind him a window or mirror reflects an image of the multiple windows of a Soviet housing block that must be behind the photographer: a simple yet interesting visual puzzle that engages our imagination.<\/p>\n

B\u00e1n celebrates the many faces of his countrymen, seeking them out at gatherings of one kind or another: anniversaries, celebrations, ceremonies, festivals, the circus or a camp for young conservationists. He delights in a group of craggy former partisans at a gathering to commemorate their resistance against fascism during the War. Witnesses to so much change, these old men, upstanding in their suits and trilbys, wear expressions alert yet world weary. In contrast, in the only formal portrait in the book, Slovak returnees, the Krnac family, wear the hopeful smiles of a family embracing their future. <\/p>\n

Religion and the rural pervade B\u00e1n\u2019s publication, reflecting a people still swathed in the past. A repetition of images of pilgrimage serves as a metaphor of sorts for Slovakia\u2019s journey towards recognition and modernity. These photographs are more atmospheric than descriptive but through their accumulation, provide an empathetic record of this slow transformation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sophie Wright<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Andrej Ban<\/span>
Published by Slovart
$39.95
133pp Hardback
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Other Slovakia - FOTO8<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Other Slovakia - FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andrej Ban Published by Slovart $39.95 133pp Hardback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\"},\"headline\":\"The Other Slovakia\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\"},\"wordCount\":444,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\",\"name\":\"The Other Slovakia - FOTO8\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Other Slovakia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"description\":\"The home of photojournalism.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"width\":124,\"height\":51,\"caption\":\"FOTO8\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\",\"name\":\"Jon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Other Slovakia - FOTO8","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Other Slovakia - FOTO8","og_description":"Andrej Ban Published by Slovart $39.95 133pp Hardback","og_url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/","og_site_name":"FOTO8","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","article_published_time":"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00","author":"Jon","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jon","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/"},"author":{"name":"Jon","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137"},"headline":"The Other Slovakia","datePublished":"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00","dateModified":"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/"},"wordCount":444,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/","name":"The Other Slovakia - FOTO8","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00","dateModified":"2007-12-19T05:23:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-other-slovakia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Other Slovakia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","name":"FOTO8","description":"The home of photojournalism.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization","name":"FOTO8","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","width":124,"height":51,"caption":"FOTO8"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137","name":"Jon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ejRI-4A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3777,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-roma-of-lunik-ix\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":0},"title":"The Roma of Lunik IX","author":"Jon","date":"25 Oct 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Tracing his childhood memories back to Slovakia, Artur Conka finds his family, and others, hanging on to life in one of Europe's most deprived ghetto neighbourhoods.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/conka_lunik_280.jpg?fit=280%2C207&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2875,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/ein-nichtort\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":1},"title":"Nonplace","author":"Jon","date":"27 Jan 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Evi Lemberger explores the definition of home in the divided region of Transcarpathia, Ukraine.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1943,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/hans-van-der-meer-european-fields\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":2},"title":"Hans van der Meer ~ European Fields","author":"Jon","date":"10 Nov 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"HOST Gallery21 October \u2013 28 November 2009Now extended until 2 December 2009 Hans van der Meer started photographing lower league football across Europe in 1995. He went out looking for football in its original form, as it had started more than hundred years ago: a piece of land, 22 players,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/on-display\/host-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"HvdM-EUFields-12","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/HvdM-EUFields-12.jpg?fit=600%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/HvdM-EUFields-12.jpg?fit=600%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/HvdM-EUFields-12.jpg?fit=600%2C395&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":289,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/shadowland\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":3},"title":"Shadowland","author":"Jon","date":"19 Dec 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Jan Grarup Published by Politikens Forlag \u00a327 227pp Hardback","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c131-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10121,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-wall-of-europe-by-sergi-camara\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":4},"title":"The Wall of Europe by Sergi C\u00e1mara","author":"sergicamara","date":"04 Jun 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The border that separates Europe from Africa \u2013 welfare from despair \u2013 between Morocco and Melilla Spain, is 12 kilometers long, seven meters high, consists of a triple fence with motion sensors and infrared cameras, and is guarded by the army and police on both sides, 24 hours a day.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/0001-2014.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/0001-2014.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/0001-2014.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/0001-2014.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/0001-2014.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3173,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-place-where-i-am-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":284,"position":5},"title":"The Place Where I am Not","author":"Jon","date":"28 Jul 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The winner of the Document War on Want photography award, Tina Remiz, documents her return to her native Latvia which she experiences as both insider and outsider.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}