Jan Galanda: Great Slovak Photographers - Tapa dura

The history of Slovak photography is full of unnoticed, semi-forgotten or completely forgotten figures. However, until recently, only a few were as unknown as Ján Galanda. Like most modern Slovak photographers, Ján Galanda was an amateur; in his civil life he worked as a bank clerk. He didn’t begin to systematically work with photography until the first half of the 1930s, and like the majority of amateur photographers, he mainly documented his leisure time interests and activities, such as travel, hiking and sports. As opposed to most of the shots of this type, Galanda’s photos are created with precision and feature a demanding and at times refined composition. During his many trips abroad, he compiled a set of photos portraying a lifestyle that was seldom seen in his impoverished homeland. His shots, a kind of Slovak glamour style, were unique in Slovakia. Although Jan Galanda depicted much from the lifestyle of modern times, his photographs remained timeless, splendid, unbiased and “captivated by beauty”. He depicted simple life events and natural human interests with visual fervor and thus they acquired a new meaning. They represent a picture of better times that never existed in Slovakia – or perhaps the world.

Aurel Hrabušický is an art critic and historian. In 1996, he was appointed curator of the new media collection and the collection of photography at the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. His field of research is visual art in Slovakia in the last century. His curatioral and editional projects at the SNG and elsewhere covers Slovak conceptual art and alternative art in general of the 1960 to 1980s, and especially, Modern, Neo Modern photography and photographic documents of the recent decades. Filip Vanco is a photographer, curator, teacher and gallerist. He completed his Master´s studies at the Department of Visual Media of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava where from 2004 to 2009 he was the head of the legendary Photography Studio. In 1996, he founded the journal PARK (1996 - 2002) and served as its editor in chief. He has been a member of the Photoport civic association and the chief curator of the gallery with the same name since 2006. As curator, he has prepared dozens of photography exhibitions and presentations at home and abroad. He writes about photography, curatorial activities and his own research topics.