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Gallery
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Images of Slovenia Today Hanno Hardt Slovenia is the first country of the former Yugoslavia to join the European Union, but the mass media tell outsiders little about it. Its individuality is habitually lost in generalised images and stereotypes of 'the Balkans', although Slovenes have always identified themselves with Central Europe and have a cultural tradition to prove it. The images shown here are part of an ongoing documentary project about life in Slovenia after the break-up of Yugoslavia and beyond. The photographs, beginning with evidence of the transition period from Communism to Capitalism (1,2,3), focus on daily life in public spaces. Taken in the style of traditional street photography, these images construct collectively a vision of how Slovenes live their lives through a variety of concrete, cultural or social practices. The pictures show public references to Socialist leaders whose monuments survived the political change (4, 5, 6), the continuing embrace of Yugo culture (7), freedom of expression (8, 9) and religion (10, 11, 12, 13), and the vibrancy of local traditions with cultural or social rather than political implications (14, 15, 16, 17, 18), which tie many Slovenes to their respective communities (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24). The result is a portrayal of a contemporary climate, which negates the war-torn landscapes that typify Western mass media imagery of 'the Balkans', and contrast with the illusions of tourist brochures. The focus is on the quality of everyday life, which actually meets or exceeds social standards in the rest of Europe. The Republic of Slovenia is a small and homogeneous nation surrounded by Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Italy. The new and modern exist side by side with the old and rooted. Both fashionable boutiques and traditional markets (25,26,27,28,29) are visible signs of a developing market economy. In the meantime, expectations of constitutional rule encounter dogmatic political conduct and create tensions over what should be the prevalent definition of democracy. The black and white images shown here reveal social
or cultural processes experienced by a country in post-Communist
transition. They do so by consciously eschewing sensationalist journalistic
images and advertisers' manipulations.
1. Make-shift street sign: 'To the shelter'.
2. Magazine advertisement of its '10-day war' coverage.
3. The first souvenirs with national emblem.
4. Monument of Edvard Kardelj, Slovene politician and leading ideologist, vice premier of Tito's government, minister of foreign affairs (1948-53), president of the federal parliament (1963-67), and architect of Yugoslavia's official ideology of independence.
5. Boris Kidric organised the Partisan uprising in Slovenia in 1941 (with Kardelj), awarded the title of People's Hero of Yugoslavia; first prime minister of Slovenia.
6. Portrait of Josip Broz Tito for sale at Ljubljana's downtown flea market.
7. Macedonian brass band cruising through old Ljubljana.
8. Flag burning in local protest against Nato attacks on Serbia.
9. City-wide high school graduation celebration.
10. Wedding at Ljubljana's Orthodox Church. |
