OFFICIAL (Czechoslovakia, 1981-1989)
According to good socialist practice, official events in Czechoslovakia were documented photographically. In the town of Humenné that was the job of Juraj Kammer, as the photographer on the payroll of the Regional Cultural Centre. In part because of the repetitive character of the subject, socialist heroism is far from obvious in his work. On the contrary; like the events recorded, his style is boring and uninspired. However, nothing more was asked of Kammer, who discharged his duties faithfully and acknowledges that he was a part of the communist propaganda machine. He felt no call to engage in a critique at the time: ‘I was not in the resistance.’ He does however insist that his photographs did not paint life under communism as rosier than it was. His apathy about the the events is clearly to be read in the photos.
