with an introduction by Vaclav Havel
124 pages
hardcover, 240 mm x 260 mm
78 duotones
language versions: english, czech, dutch
released in 2006 by:
kant, czech republic (english/czech) isbn 80-86970-18-3
mets and schilt, holland (dutch) isbn 90-5330-528-9
eric franck fine art, england (english) isbn 80-86970-17-5
for further details please contact the publishers
my journey around europe was everything: an opportunity to meet my neighbours, an exploration of unknown territory, a visit and an escape. it was a pilgrimage to point zero, in which everything and nothing is important. europe "east of eden", where i spent the first half of my life, was in many ways a surreal world through the looking-glass, a life lived behind a wall. after the wall fell, "home" ceased to have fixed and impassable borders. on my travels through the "new europe" i experienced the vulnerability of anyone who has decided to live for a while in a strange town.
my journey was a game, and also a battle with demons. drawn sometimes to beauty, sometimes to ugliness, i lived out my european story, in moscow or amsterdam, against the backdrop of the end of the old millennium and the beginning of the new one. i was myself, and at the same time anyone: like a polish pilgrim in santiago de compostela, an english businessman in prague, or a bosnian immigrant in berlin, i too was both master of my destiny and an insignificant part of changing history.
this book is a report from that personal and continental "meantime".
hana jakrlova was born in brno in czechoslovakia in 1969. she studied architecture in prague, and subsequently photography at the institute of creative photography in opava. she has lived in london, paris and new york, where she studied at the international center of photography.
she took photographs of nine cities as part of the european cities of culture 2000 project, and the resulting collection, europeans, was exhibited and published internationally. hana jakrlova's work was featured in the czech photography of the 20th century exhibition in prague and the contemporary czech photography exhibition in new york, and her photographs are found in public and private collections at home and abroad.
she lives and works in prague and in new york.