Libuše Jarcovjáková: The Black Years
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: February 9, 2017, 19:00 – 21:00
Libuše Jarcovjáková, the enfant terrible of Czech photography, is publishing her work in book form for the first time. Černé roky (The Black Years) comprises raw photos and literary diaries from the period 1971–1987. The book distills the black and white ordinariness of normalisation Prague, revealing both the beauty and decay of that period, as well as providing an insight into the remarkable later life of an émigré in West Berlin and Tokyo.
Libuše Jarcovjáková lived in pubs, worked the night shift at a print factory, went through a host of lovers of both genders and took photographs in semi-legal gay clubs. She brazenly transcended the boundaries of social stereotypes and morals. The Black Years documents the 1970s and 1980s as people really lived them. And the things they were afraid to live. In her own idiosyncratic manner, Libuše tackled abortion committees, StB men and a complicated father, photographing it all and writing about it all.
The book will be presented by documentarian Barbora Baronová while curator Lucia L. Fišerová will host a talk with the author.