The Slovak Epic exhibit will be opening in the NCSML permanent exhibit area on September 25, 2024 as a result of cooperation with Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave (UCM) and other partners from Slovakia. The exhibit displays a series of remarkable photos made by a well-known, internationally recognized Slovak photographer Martin Machaj, who is also the author of the project.
Clothing is one of the most representative components of traditional culture. It forms an integral part of our cultural heritage. This exhibition presents the last representatives of traditional clothing/costumes in Slovak regions. It presents them with a new, hitherto unknown perspective of an art photographer with texts prepared by an ethnologist.
The authors consider traditional clothing as part of the cultural heritage, which is being lost on everyday basis in the whirling time, and with the last representatives, its spirit and the genius loci of the country that they have been creating are going to be gone as well.
The photographs capture the joys, worries and life stories of people in their natural environment, in cottages, in front of the houses, on holidays and on regular, everyday occasions.
Together with the last representatives of the costumes, the exhibit authors also want to point out the transformation of clothing in the contemporary modern world, the changes the costume has undergone, and the aspects which are necessary for its survival, preservation and presentation. The authors document these clothes on local activists, folklore groups and on those who preserve, save, modify and remake the costumes in the villages. Selected costumes represent the regions from which most migrants left for overseas in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thus, the descendants of Slovaks living in the USA have a unique opportunity to look into the locations of their ancestors and, thanks to the photographs, have contacts with their roots. The photos are accompanied by short captions in Slovak and English.
The Slovak Epic exhibit contains 25 representative banners capturing the diversity of traditional clothing regions of Slovakia in their archaic form, supplemented by short descriptions of the situation and the region.
Martin Machaj
The career of Martin Machaj began in Paris, where he lived and worked from 1995. There the Slovak artist discovered a natural ability to express emotion, passion and ideas through the lens. Further studies took Martin to New York, where he developed the unique, signature style of capturing images with heart, soul and meaning. His fascination with exotic locales, people and customs took him around the world and back again. Martin felt compelled to share these extraordinary experiences and connections with the world, which he had the great fortune to appreciate during his travels.
From the dangerous climate in South Sudan to the explosive-tempered tribes of Papua New Guinea, Martin traversed deserts, swamps and tundra, to connect with indigenous clans, in some of the most remote places on the planet. Places which are not easily accessible, and so few left which remain untouched by our modern world.
