ERNEST & ALICIA (Czechoslovakia, 1982-1988)

In the early 1980s a group of Prague photography students – later famed as the Slovakian New Wave – experimented with staged photography, multiple exposures and the manipulation of negatives and prints. The most original member was Jano Pavlík. He escaped from everyday reality with his frenzied concepts, characterised by feelings of powerlessness and apathy. One of his most famous projects was ERNEST & ALICIA. In this visual novella various models play the same man and woman. Although as archetypical as Adam and Eve, Ernest and Alicia find themselves in anything but a paradise. Ernest is often seen headless in the photographs, and Alicia is presented chiefly as an unattainable object. The underlying themes in this existential work are self-hate, punishment and the desire to escape. Pavlík further drew on the prints with ballpoint pens and felt markers, thus denying the multiple character of photography and giving each print a unique appearance.