BURNING LOVE Israel Through the Lens of Karel Cudlín

Karel Cudlín (b. 1960, Prague) is a living legend of contemporary Czech documentary photography and the only Czech photographer who has systematically documented Israel over the course of three decades. After graduating from the Department of Photography at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1987, he worked for a variety of Czech print media, including Mladý svět, Lidové noviny, Prostor, Revolver Revue, and Respekt, as well as for the Czech News Agency (ČTA). He is best known as one of President Václav Havel’s personal photographers and as the author of an extensive body of work capturing the lives of diverse ethnic and social groups across Central and Eastern Europe. These include series documenting Czech and Slovak Roma, Ukrainian laborers in Prague, the 1990 withdrawal of Soviet troops from the former Czechoslovakia, and the post-1989 revival of Jewish community life in Bohemia, Ukraine, Romania, and beyond. In addition to countless individual publications featuring his iconic images, Cudlín’s work has appeared in three major monographs (Torst, 1994, 2001, and 2016) and several other volumes. Among his recent publications is Lost Europe, a large-format photographic book created in collaboration with Jan Dobrovský and Martin Wagner, fellow members of the 400 ASA photographic collective, of which he is a founding member. Cudlín is the recipient of sixteen Czech Press Photo awards and the annual prize of the acclaimed literary journal Revolver Revue. His photographs are held in public and private collections across Europe, North America, and Israel.

Entry: 60 CZK

Organizer: ŽMP