Fotograf Magazine

We are pleased to present the results of FOTOGRAF MAGAZINE OPEN CALL 2024, which was assessed by an international committee of photographers and curators of contemporary photography including:

Katy Hundertmark (FOAM magazine), Julie Hrnčířová (visual artist), Markéta Kinterová (Fotograf Magazine), Giangavino Pazzola (CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia), Elizabeth Pichler (curator), and Karolina Wojtas (visual artist)

Congratulations to the selected photographers and thank you to all who entered!

Kehan Lai

Softly Amorphous

Kehan Lai is a photo-based artist who lives in New York and Shanghai. Her work straddles between the simulacrum and the authentic, transforms the mundane into the symbolic, and explores the materiality of photo prints. Her practice comprises a laborious process of information-gathering, material-assembling, and scene-building.

“I explore how the mind navigates through information, while examining the intricacy of material culture. I photograph objects and print them out. By cutting, folding, and twisting, I convert the printed paper into three-dimensional forms and photograph the outcome against a white backdrop. These resulting images reference how, in the realms of memory, linearity falls short, objects lose their totality, and different temporal instances entangle. I also source images under the themes of technology, science, and culture. By juxtaposing personal photographs with found images in the setting of still-life photography — often characterized by backdrops and countertops — I aim to reflect the rhizomatic pattern of our minds, linking diverse visual lexicons to create meaning.”

Instagram – @kehanff

David Růžička

7 Universal Emotions

David Růžička lives and works in Prague and is currently completing his Master’s degree at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design. He has worked in the studios of Aleksandra Vajd and Martin Kohout, Michal Pěchouček, and Dominik Gajarski, and also in the ‘Visiting Artist Studio’ led by Setareh Shahbazi and Slava Sobotovičová. Central to his work is the prototype of cinematic narrative, which he sees as both a sovereign medium and the most effective way to convey the author’s story. He grounds his typically non-linear narrative within the structure of everyday life, which he presents as the only consistent element amidst change. However, he views the everyday reality not just as the foundation for all plot developments but also as a means of engaging with the audience.

The foundation of this work is Werner Forman’s subjective photographs from 1956. These images create an atmosphere that stimulates the imagination and may unintentionally reveal an alternative narrative layer in the background. The work, 7 Universal Emotions, revisits the past and its connection to how we perceive the world. It also reinterprets Paul Ekman’s index of basic emotions by using photographs of emotional expressions and short stories from various places around the world, including remote Indigenous tribes, to demonstrate the universality of basic emotions. The embroidery, an invasive intervention in the torn pages, is a link for both motifs and an assured footnote. The dialogue of the three Renaissance sculptures thematises Forman’s contradictory and subjective approach and thus his distorted perception of the postcolonial situation. It is no coincidence that they convey the emotion of contempt.

Instagram – @davidruzick

Jury Recommendations

Karolina Wojtas

David Růžička captivates with his fresh approach to photography! Combining text, drawings, and installations in a beautiful portfolio of works, he creates something completely new and intriguing. By merging modern techniques with archival layers, he creates amazing and fascinating pieces!

Kehan Lai creates highly aesthetic collages with a playful approach, blending photography and memory. By cutting, slicing, and assembling compositions like memories, Kehan crafts attractive compositions with harmonious color schemes!

Giangavino Pazzola

These art projects are based on in-depth research, resulting in long-term projects of great depth, in which the artists explore their subjects long and intensively. The outputs show great attention to detail and a quest for perfection. Each project is executed with precision, resulting in works of great aesthetic and visual impact.

Katy Hundertmark 

In her photographic collages Kehan Lai deconstructs the surface of the image, inviting the viewer to consider its materiality. Her still lives push the boundaries of the frame, and introduce sculptural elements and archival material that seem to distort time and space.

David Růžička works across multiple mediums and techniques, using collaboration to navigate questions around social constructs and power dynamics. By combining image and text in 7 Universal Emotions he makes space for critical reflection on the archival images used by Ekman.