Gallery Hopping...

Thursday night--just back from another cool author reading. Tonight it was Bret Lott and Robert Eversz. They had a great rapport between them during the Q and A, which is really interesting since the two of them write such different work. I am intrigued by Eversz's books. They all center around this character Nina Zero who is an ex-con paparazza who wants to be an art photographer. It all takes place against the backdrop of L.A. It is entertaining and rather humorous/dark stuff.

We went to a bunch of little galleries for photo class today. Our teacher just led us around the city to each one. Then we critiqued the various techniques of each one. One gallery was having an opening that he wanted us to go to. He was very much at home, knowing a lot of the people there. We also had a guest photographer show us her work: it was documentary photographs of Prague at key points in history. The one I was most interested in was her series on the leaving of the Russian troops in 1990 and 1991 after they had been in Prague since 1968. The pictures were stark and weird. The soldiers didn't look happy. It was also interesting to see the way they had literally set up a home at the base in Prague for 20 years. For some, it was their home. The photographer said that she is one of the best known female documentary photographers in the Czech Republic since it is not as common for women to do this as it might be in the U.S. She said it's mainly because it's a more traditional society and women have a harder time balancing the domestic role with the call of being an artist. Interesting.


She also had pictures of 1989--the actual throngs of people who came out when Comunism fell. Her pictures showed many people of the older generation who were showing a mix of feelings. There was a sense of hope. But, one of her photos showed a woman who looked grim. The photgrapher said she was trying to capture the fact that the older generation was happy that comunism had fallen, but it was also a bittersweet moment since, for many of the older people, this fall of communism came too late for them. It would not play such a big role in determining their lives as it would for the yonger generation.

Tonight at dinner there was a huge downpour. We were sitting in an outdoor garden restaurant--but luckily it had some covering. Still, the rain kept coming down in huge sheets and it was literally weighing down the awnings. We dashed over to the theater for the readings, soaked through and through. Apparently, we are in monsoon season!!

more soon...gotta read for class tomorrow...:)