Jitka Hanzlova: Cotton Rose - (Hardcover)

About the Book

The photographs in Cotton Rose were taken in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan. Hanzlova strongly resisted the long tradition of Japan travel journals showing a foreign and exotic Japan. She was aided in this by her own history of having left her village in the former Czech Republic for political reasons in 1983."

Book Synopsis

Jitka Hanzlová has traversed contexts, identities and cultures in a quest for the meaning of belonging that lies at the heart of her images. The photographs in Cotton Rose were taken in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan. Hanzlová strongly resisted the long tradition of travel journals written about Japan, showing a foreign and exotic country. Since Jitka Hanzlová defected from the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1982 she has sought to explore her experiences through photography, producing a body of work at once poetic and truthful. Hanzlová's photography is in constant pursuit of the relationship between the individual and the context in which people live. It scrutinizes the ways in which home and surroundings indelibly shape identity. Drawing on her own life story, Hanzlová's photographs also speak of a more universal longing for a sense of place.

Review Quotes

Cotton Rose is the result of two years of travels in Gifú prefecture where Jitka Hanzlová visited cities and villages, attended ceremonies, learned Japanese and even entered into conversation with Tajima cattle in an effort to first get to know the country, rural life, and traditions before mingling with the anonymous crowds in the cities.--Simon Skinner "PhotoBite"