NARCISSUS / NARKISSOS
2016 – 2017

analogue / faber-base gelatin silver print / injekt color print

The first human story to deal with virtual reality. A story of looking into an image created by ourselves, a story of the battle fought between fantasy and reality. The story of Echo and Narcissus holds the mirror up to the current times so aptly that it seems all too real. There is more to the character of Narcissus than meets the eye. Originating from Greek, the word Narkissos comes from narké (stupefaction) with reference to narcotic effects, addiction. Narcissus unfolds a story of being unable to step out of a vicious circle and get over the addiction to one’s own perfect real-life model. A myth suggesting of human masks, inner beauty and pain. Modern psychology diagnoses narcissism as a serious hard-to-treat psychological disorder. One of the ways possible is to discover the true self, understand one’s imperfections and embrace them as natural human beauty.

The Narcissus collection brings in the theoretical part of my thesis named Truth and lies in Czech photography since 1950, where I attempt to define the border between subjectivity and objectivity in photography. And the story of Echo and Narcissus offers as a perfect symbol standing for the fine line between reality and dreamy reality in our mind; in other words the comparison works as the imaginary line between reality and virtual reality.

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PRINTS:
black and white photography
slideshow: scans of enlarged photos 18 x 24cm
exhibition photos: author’s enlargement / faber-base gelatin silver print / 62,1 x 50,7cm
color photography
slideshow: scans from a slide color film format 6 x 7
exhibition photos: injekt print / 80 x 70cm / 61 x 51cm

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THX!
models: Filip + Tereza + Marketa + Andrea
dekor maker: Prince Vince
photography assistant for dekor realization: Andrea
special thx: edit masters and technicals analogue laboratory specialist