Daučíková, Anna : Family Album 1-4. (1998/2017)

Lambda print, Fujicolor Chrystal Archive DP II Matt paper, ed. 2/3 + 1 AP
Long-term loan from the Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung, Aachen, 2018
Keywords

The black and white photo series Family Album was taken by ANNA DAUČIKOVA during her stay in Moscow in 1988. The artist graduated from the Glass Department of the Bratislava Academy of Arts in 1978 and moved to the Soviet Union with her then lover, only returning to Slovakia after the fall of communism in 1991. The photographs show glasses in various arrangements, which not only demonstrate Daučikova’s interest in glass as a material, but also draws attention to a social problem: the everyday consumption of alcohol. This type of glass – usually used to drink vodka – is still a symbol of alcoholism in the former Soviet Union. Daučikova uses the two best-known types of glasses to represent the two sexes, the man and the woman, and a third, smaller glass to represent the child. With deep empathy for the human condition, mixed with irony, she creates a series of model situations: scenes from Soviet family life, where the glasses, arranged in different shapes, are elements of the role-play of mother, father and child.