Photographs
Abstract
Architecture and man – these are the two most important supporting motifs in the over 20 years long photographic work of Anton Baša. The relationship to both of these subjects is deeply rooted in his personality. Colourful work is very characteristic for the author, gradually becoming prominent in his documentary sets from music festivals, and most significant in the presented series Brightonians (2011). The cycle of portraits illustrates the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the city in the south of England, where the photographer spent five years of his life and took portraits of passers-by during random encounters while wandering around the city. The projects named Fuerteventura (2011) and Urban Silence (2018) express the desire to find peace and reflect on the deeper contexts of human life, scenery and symbols in the urban spaces of industrial and urban landscapes. A characteristic feature of Baša ‘s work is in the way the individual series are created. With the exception of Brightonians and the photographs of architecture, the meaning and narrative of the individual series only come to life during editing and selection of photographs, while photography as such is almost purely a matter of feeling. The images are not created with a predefined intention to create a series, they are rather a selection with similar atmosphere or visuality and therefore can be used in an alternative form while maintaining the relationships between them. Urban Silence reflects the transposition of human presence (directly or indirectly), thematized in the socio-culture of a big city with possible approaches towards ways for its display. Instead of busy scenes that express the first visual manifestation of contemporary metropolises, the ensemble presents images without people and offers the viewer space for individual interpretation. The Japan (2014) and Brighton Beach (2006 – 2011) projects are the result of a fusion of approaches from the previously mentioned projects. In them, the author combines a systematic collection of photographs with the presence of people, keeping his distance from the scene and not communicating with its actors.
Key words
Cultural and Spiritual Diversity. Human Beings. Industrial and Urban Landscape. Medium Format. Portrait. Sociological Photography. Still Lifes.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/ejmap-23-02-02
BAŠA, A.: Photographs. In European Journal of Media, Art and Photography, 2023, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 40-73, ISSN 1339-4940.