Page 90 - ART POOL : 11 Contemporary Art Profiles

PETRA RUzICkOvA | CzeCh repUBliC
www.petraruzickova.com/en

A Swimming Pool in a Prison
The element of water is an enduring motif in my work. It is connected dirty tank, a concrete receptacle on the slow road to oblivion. Even so,
with the never-ending surface of the sea, outer space, the chasms of it arouses in me poetic reminiscences or a dream of swimming in an
the heavens, verticality as a connecting line between what is below unrestrained body of water. The oppressive and melancholic poetry
(on the ground) and up above (in the metaphysical sense of the word). of the Terezin fortress inspired me a while ago to produce a large
Furthermore, the surface of the water, whether calm or wavy, is a mirror composed set of color-toned photographs called Stone Star Terezin and,
and as such it is related to the essence of any creative mimesis, which I subsequently, to publish a book entitled Fortress (kant, Prague 2003),
perceive inter alia as a reflection. The theme of a swimming pool seems where I tried to capture the imperceptible magic of the deserted space
to narrow the metaphoric characteristics of water as an element, but of the citadel, as though cast off in a landscape of other, astral worlds.
also interconnects it with man and his external and internal dimension. I remember the water tank on one of the fortress’s courts fascinating
The pool, a bathing area, a place to swim, is a very small part of this me so much that kept returning to this theme. The tank, swimming pool,
immense water world, which has a highly symbolic character for me. as a starting point, a window onto the outside, free world, a heavenly
In my view, the swimming pool is an abandoned, unneeded water tank; it mirror, must have conjured up similar thoughts among the prisoners.
may look like a swimming pool, but it was never used for bathing because On one of the photographs, the human dimension of the scenery is
it is located in the depressive setting of the former concentration camp compounded by the rusting ladder lowered to the bottom of the tank.
at Terezin, a Jewish ghetto in the Second world war. we can all imagine It calls to mind the association of both a descent into the depths and
the desire of the prisoners to submerge themselves in the cold water an ascent to the heights. It could be viewed as a mysterious, sacred
and swim off to other, calmer shores. Or to die in the embrace of the symbol for Jacob’s Ladder, a biblical attribute which infuses a whiff of
water. Today this sad reminder has remained in Terezin, a half-empty, timelessness into places connected with the Holocaust.
Petra Ruzickova

| The sTone sTAr Terezin i, phoToGrApy Color C prinT 18x12 in. | 45x30 Cm.
| The sTone sTAr Terezin ii, phoToGrApy Color C prinT 18x12 in. | 45x30 Cm.
| The sTone sTAr Terezin iii, phoToGrApy Color C prinT 12x18 in. | 30x45 Cm.
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