Arrivals: What's Left Behind, What Lies Ahead

ARRIVALS

What's Left Behind, What Lies Ahead

A Multidisciplinary Project

Andy Bale & Jon Cox

Curator: Katarína Balúnová

Date: 20 - 27.9.2023

Opening: SEPTEMBER 21st, 2023, at 5:15 pm

Life music by Sona Kmet

FX Gallery, Academy of Arts, Banská Bystrica

"Photography overcomes language, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status and socio-economic barriers. Photography tells a story, is easily accessible, and has the potential to create social change through group sharing and discussion."

The exhibition Arrivals: What's Left Behind, What Lies Ahead is part of a broader interdisciplinary project that focuses on mapping cultural differences and sharing stories. Andy Bale and Jon Cox (USA) meet and photograph people who have been displaced from their original homelands in relation to the past, present, and projected future - people from marginalized groups, ethnic minorities, as well as members of indigenous tribes. They point both to the danger of political and social conflicts, the consequences of the capitalist interests of extractive companies, and the environmental situation that is often the reason for forced migration. Conversation is an important part of the project, helping to transmit experiences and deepen understanding. Each portrait carries a story, often of difficult life events, but also of overcoming trauma and successfully integrating into a new community. The interviews are preserved as an audio recording and thus become part of the oral history.

The exhibition Arrivals at the FX Gallery presents the selection of the older works of the artists, photographs taken in and around Banská Bystrica during their stay in May 2023, as well as the results of PhotoVoice workshops focused on the technique of cyanotype. 

Andy Bale and Jon Cox led a series of workshops with students from the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Matej Bel University, the Roma community in the village of Povrazník and several other participating groups in September 2023.  

Participating students from the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica: Adela Bradlerová, Sandra Cseresznyesová, Tomáš Hajzer, Dominik Janovec, Kristína Kerekešová, Lenka Kocúrová, Andrea Laková, Lucia Laková, Barbora Murková, Viktória Slašťanová, Adela Smolková, Eliška Šandorová, Anastasiia Voloshyna, Dária Zubovská

Other participants: Alžbeta Bartošová, Valéria Bartošová, Leonid Chernovatyi, Michael Dove, Braniscav Eremiás, Risia Gladushyna, Oleksande Kalnyćhenko, Nataliia Kalnyčenkova, Evelina Kirghak, Jaro Koleda, Karin Koledová, Majká Koledová, Natalia Kovalchuk, Viktoriia Luts, Jorga Manesová, Sofia Oslovska, Daria Otreshko, Patricia Paźicuá, Viktoriia Shavt, Svitlana Shekhavtsova, Kristina Shevchuk, Mariia Tudovshi, Olena Tymoheieva, Adeliya Vomaldinova, Daria Yatsyna, Liana Yevtushenko