Jitka Hanzlová

Jitka Hanzlová (*1958 in Náchod, ehemalige Tschechoslowakei) studied photography at the University Essen. The Essen based artist Jitka Hanzlová became international knwon by her very sensitive series of "female" portraits, which were photographed right on the streets.

 

‘The unfamiliar challenges us. It keeps us alert and sharpens our perception.’

 

In her work ‘Rokytnik, 1990–1994’, which she created whilst studying at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Hanzlová explores her former homeland and her childhood, from which she emigrated as early as 1982. She reflects on home, loss, exile and identity by depicting, in subtle colours, the everyday lives of the people who live there.

 

For her series ‘FEMALE’, Hanzlová approached and photographed women from different countries and cultures directly on the street. The images depict modern women in their feminine individuality, often set against a colourful backdrop that interacts with the urban environment. This emotional impact created by the colour is intended to enhance the character of each subject.

In occasion of the project DEAD END, 2008 (director: Ralph Goertz, Music: Xaver Poncette, text: Leon de Winter) at the Chamber Opera NRW in co-production with the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum Krefeld, Jitka Hanzlová made her first male portrait of Bernd Braun (actor, Theatre Bonn).

 

 

Rokytnik, 1990–1994

 

 

 

Female, 1997-2000

 

 

 

 

Bernd Braun, 2008