Roman Franc (*1983) embarked on his career as a photographer at a time when the world, rocked by social-political and technological change, was looking for some level of certainty. The context of this reality, where the urgent need for change straddled the gap between what was coming to an end and the new forms of the future, enable us to read the recent history of most fields of human activity.
Roman Franc came out of the tradition of Brno photography, which has never been too eager to follow trends, and shows the world that working with tradition can be as interesting and rewarding as trying to deny it. Although Franc’s work has long since gone beyond the habits of his early years, he still believes that photography takes on a deeper meaning only through practice, when the photographer keeps improving his skills.
For much of its history, photography has been regarded as a mirror of the outside world. This idea, however, has a weak point – it seeks reality while neglecting the obvious fact that photography not only reflects the world, but is also part of it, giving it the potential to shape it. Group photographs taken by Roman Franc are remarkable in that they reflect this elementary dialectic. One could even say that the dialectic directly influences them. In this respect, the artist’s photography reminds us of the times when photographers used to travel to their customers and when the pressing of the shutter was the culmination of an event preceded by a series of small private rituals that enabled everyone involved to realize who they were and where they belonged. In the era of digital technology and social media, we miss this desirable and deeply human moment. In a way, this can be seen in the growing interest in Franc’s photographs, which are primarily an opportunity to affirm the common identity of those gathered in front of the lens, and in his prints in galleries intended for people from the outside.

Jiří Pátek
Brno, 3 August 2022