WRITINGS ON

NAJLJEPŠE MJESTO NA SVIJETU | NAJLEPŠI KRAJ NA SVETU | THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD

Klovićevi dvori, Zagreb, CRO

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD
(OR HOW THE IDEA OF ARBITRAGE FAILED)
text by Sandra Križić Roban
Hrvatski fotosavez, Zagreb, CRO, 2016

Tanja Verlak photographed her exceedingly serious and melancholic series ZOO at the zoos in various European cities. And while these were once places where the public could learn about rare species, many zoos in recent years have been turned into coerced “oases” in which animals live seemingly undisturbed, yet confined to reside in cramped conditions.
Zoos, the same as circuses, attest to the impossibility of coexistence; they bear witness to the violent human nature that insatiably exploits natural resources without thinking about consequences. Such are the portraits of the photographed animals, captured in this dissonance imposed by man. The black-and-white technique emphasizes the cold nature of that relationship, as well as profitability as the founding principle of these parks and gardens where animals’ movement is restricted and about which we are allowed to know only little of. These are no longer places of wonder or cabinets of curiosities, but cold, neglected and confined spaces which speak of our relationship with nature as a cultural construct. The consequences and reach of such “a culture” are devastating. These photographs do not only critique the system that allows such treatment but they are also an expression of man’s inability to recall his long-standing connection with nature, in relation to which he was cultivated and developed further actions.

text by Marija Borovičkić
http://croatian-photography.com/text/najljepse-mjesto-na-svijetu/

’/.../ okrutnost i prisilnost kultiviranja životinjskog dijela prirode prikazani su fizičkim i psihološkim „uguravanjem“ u arhitekturu i očekivanja posjetitelja zoološkog vrta. Tanja Verlak u seriji fotografija ZOO prikazivanjem šćućurene divlje mačke iza stakla ili slona u kutu zatamnjene prostorije svjedoči o zastrašujućim oblicima ljudskih „vakumiranja“ i instrumentaliziranja živog svijeta.’

THEY ARE US:
ANIMAL IDENTITY AND THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC URGE

Rick Wester Fne Art, New York

text by Jean Dykstra
Photograph Magazine

’/.../ And Tanja Verlak’s black-and-white photographs of animals in a zoo are pure heartbreak – a spotted cat seen behind dirty glass, a giraffe in a space enclosed by a chain-link fence.

Verlak has photographed in and around zoos in Eastern Europe and the U.K., and her photographs foreground dirty windows, brick enclosures, and feeble fences; the lonely looking animals behind them are an afterthought, maybe the saddest comment yet on our objectification of our fellow creatures.’

NEW DELHI NEW YORK

Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana

text by Brane Kovič

MIDNIGHTS IN MUMBAI

City Gallery Nova Gorica

text by Brane Kovič

http://www.mgng.net/eng/info-tanjaverlak.html
http://www.mgng.net/info-tanjaverlak.html

IZGUBLJENO IN NAJDENO V ATMOSFERI
Dnevnik

text by Mojca Pišek

http://www.dnevnik.si/kultura/1042480770

PRIPOVEDOVANJE BREZ ZGODB
Dnevnik

text by Ida Hiršenfelder

http://www.dnevnik.si/kultura/1042475653

V REDU LOKALNOSTI
Fotografija, Magazine on Photography

text by Peter Rauch

http://www.revijafotografija.si/?p=3021

FOTOGRAFIJA: ODMOR S TEORIJO IN FILOZOFIJO
Dnevnik

text by Mojca Pišek

http://www.dnevnik.si/kultura/1042499171