Borreraig, Isle of Skye
Art installation and photography by Lukas Kroulik.
How it started Fishing Buoys 2020 and how it is going four years later. Getting greener!?
... to be continued.
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Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
Alumni Network 'We are UAL Sustainability Alumni Network. We Educate, Showcase & Connect students and alumni practising sustainable methods of business and design.
We Educate - My inspiration comes from meeting and making friends with engaged people like me who want to make a difference to the world through art.
Central Saint Martins provides a magnificent networking space, not just because of the spectacular premises, because the design facilitates every kind of conversation. I mingled with current students and alumni, and we compared their experiences with mine from when I studied at UAL in 2010. Since the event I have remained in good contact with those I met and I know that there will be many new collaborative opportunities arising from these introductions. And the great refreshments certainly helped!
We Showcase - I was so proud to be chosen as one of the three guest speakers at Sustainable Horizons: Going Forwards II on November 16. As my artistic career has developed from the wonderful start given to me by UAL, I have progressively focused my work on creating awareness of the huge challenges we face and the impact of sustainable lifestyles on the environment and our happiness. This was such a great opportunity to share my experiences and stories as well as my work recently featured at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Chelsea Arts Club.
We Educate - I have a passion for learning and melding disciplines, more formally building on my artistic training with a psychotherapy qualification from Regent's University, and more spontaneously taking advantage of every opportunity to pursue inspirational themes. For me that was the highlight of the event. I found incredible diversity with UAL alumni from all kinds of walks of life and different places in the creative industries. What a wonderful chance to share, practice and develop UAL still gives us.
This is my invitation for you to take a step into the house of the past.
Imagine looking good as a Czech girl in Nazi Bohemia, 1943
Imagine looking good as a Caribbean girl in the Great Recession, London, 2009
Here is my conversation with the images that tell their story.
Archive: a historical collection of e.g. dresses, documents, paintings, film magazines just to name but a few.
This project focused on the ‘fashion archive’ from an image-led perspective. It investigated notions of the ‘staged’ moments and evidenced through fashion.
This topic, lectures and archive visits inspired me to look at my childhood and especially my relationship with my grandmother Hana. She was my friend, supporter, influence and inspiration. I spent lots of time with her as a child and loved talking to her about her childhood and also looking at the photos in her photo albums and imagining the staged moments and the stories behind the photos. We could discuss those moments and memories for hours.
After visiting the London College of Fashion archive and observing and analysing Katherine Baird’s explanations how she manages, creates and where and who donated e.g. clothes, shoes, magazines, photographs, make-up with practical examples and demonstration I realised that I can use my grandmother photos as a young woman from the forties as my primary research. I understood the connection between the clothes, photograph, stories and the meaning of it.
The analytical approach to some of my grandmother’s photographs from the 40’s brought me to an interesting conclusion. One of my close friends and also a university peer Suzanne has always unconsciously reminded me of my grandmother. There is something which connects these two women. They both have style and charisma and something else which I still have to explore. Suzanne has been always fascinated by the 40’s and 50’s style and she is the real example of a woman who knows how to wear this kind of clothes. I told her about my grandmother’s passion for fashion and clothes making. I brought back some clothes from my grandmother’s wardrobe for Suzanne and all of the pieces ‘fit like a glove’. That is astonishing coincident.
I decided to interview my grandmother and also Suzanne and ask them about the style and in my grandmother case what was the main reason for dressing up. In her time the only excitement or self expression was through clothes because it was a very difficult time during the Second World War in the Eastern Bohemia.
I decided to recreate the mood and the style of my grandmother Hana’s staged photographs and use her original clothes which she gave to Suzanne so she can relive the style of the 40’s.
Muzeum bratří Čapků, Male Svatonovice, Czech Republic - Hana Kroulikova with the Museum director Eva Hylmarova in 2015. Photo credit JK.
Josef Čapek and Karel Čapek collaborated on several creative projects just like I have done over the years with my brother, hypnotist, Jakub Kroulik.
For example, Josef invented the word "robot", which was introduced into literature by his brother, Karel Čapek.
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