Gallery 4 invites you to the exhibition 3 Journeys, which will showcase the work of three members of the Hanke family—photographer Jiří Hanke, photographer Jiřina Hanke, and their son, photographer Michael Hanke.

Jiří Hanke (*1944) has presented his work at numerous exhibitions throughout his photographic “journey,” and therefore decided not to repeat his already well-known series in his selection of works for this exhibition. These are referenced here only in previews Views from the Window of My Apartment (1981–2003) and Before the Exhibition: Portraits of Exhibitors at the Savings Bank Gallery in Kladno, 1977–2019, in order to place the exhibition series within the context of his entire body of work.

Five photographs from Kladno taken in 1976 and 1977 introduce the viewer to Jiří Hanke’s work. The atmosphere of his native Kladno and the changes it has undergone—which Jiří Hanke has devoted his entire life to documenting—is captured in a series of eight photographs of a single house on Váňova Street and its transformations over a twenty-year span (1981–2001). 

Time, which always plays an important role in Hanke’s photographs, is also represented in another sample of his work: the series Imprints of a Generation, which he has been working on since 1986. Using pairs of photographs taken years apart, he shows how time has affected the subjects.

In the next section of the exhibition, visitors will see examples from the series TV Image (1992–94), Under Our Apple Tree (2012), My Still Life (2005–06), and Tulips and Others… (2014–2020). The exhibition concludes with the large-format photograph Brooklyn Bridge, New York (1990).

Jiřina Hankeová (*1948) bases her work on observations of the reality around her and within herself. Her best-known series, A Clumsy Attempt at Self-Therapy (2005–2006), was created in the privacy of an intimate space (exhibited as a solo show at G4 in 2007).

This series is loosely followed by the cycle Nonverbal Communication (2014), expanded with additional thematically focused photographs for an exhibition at the Central Bohemian Regional Gallery (GASK) in Kutná Hora (2023). GASK curator Richard Drury wrote the following about this series: “Empty pill packs here function as ‘ready-mades,’ that is, as everyday objects from the artist’s life, and in their gradual multiplication and piling up into the form of a precarious ‘tower’—which subsequently collapses—we find a statement about the fragility and vulnerability of human society in general.” Part of this series is currently on view at the G4 exhibition in Cheb.

In her photographic series, the artist explores everyday motifs that undergo a transformation in meaning: RGB-Y (2012), Shadows (2013), Eve’s Apple (2015), Home – Seasons (2016).

Regarding the series of minimalist and monochrome photographs Silence (2023), theorist Michal Janata said: “These are photographs that require concentration. They are undermined by the impatience with which we tend to overlook everything that is hidden, even though it is right before our eyes. It is a photographic meditation on silence, whose equivalent is the color white, the color of composure.” The metamorphosis of the white plane and the exploration of the surface’s plasticity also appear in the series White (2012). The collection Without Context is being presented for the first time at this exhibition.

Michael Hanke (*1972) focuses on humanistic documentary photography in his work, which he only began actively pursuing at the age of 40. A common theme in his photographic series is to remind people that the most beautiful—and often the most powerful—moments in life are accessible to all of us. We can all enjoy them, even though, unfortunately, we tend to overlook them more and more often. He highlights places where the world is still in order.

In his work to date, he has focused on themes that strongly resonate with the “human condition.” He shows the joy of life (Senior Dance Parties, 2014), achievements (Children’s Chess Tournaments, 2015), as well as defeats and the struggle to cope with their consequences (They Never Saw Him Cry, 2018, The Journey Toward a Dream, 2020, Hope, 2023). Thanks to their powerful narrative, his photographs have won awards at prestigious domestic and international competitions, such as World Press Photo (2017, 2019), Czech Press Photo (six awards between 2013 and 2017), Sony World Photography Awards (2016, 2021), and International Photographer of the Year (2015, 2016).

For the exhibition at G4, he selected two contrasting themes from his body of work—photographs from the series Senior Dance Parties (2014) and Ball Season (2017), which stand in stark contrast to the photographs from the series Funeral Service (2017). Taken together, they capture the eternal, inevitable cycle of life.