The exhibition project called BLUE GRANDMA flips a visual diary from the digital environment of social networks (Instagram) to the intimate environment of the apartment gallery Flatgallery through a chamber-tuned installation of digital images of the author's grandmother, which she captures during ordinary situations from her everyday life. It is an author's probe into the life of a loved one, captured in various moments that, despite their banality and mundaneness, radiate a feeling of authentic participation in the activities of a smart woman in years, how she spends her free time.

 

The photo reportage of the blue-haired grandmother brings a glimpse into privacy and portrays the author's grandmother as an extremely active person, even in her advanced age, who knows how to deal with the pitfalls of modern life in the 21st century in her own way and always with insight. We are witnessing the complexity and complexity of the contemporary world, in which anyone can get "lost" at any time.

 

However, thanks to intergenerational relations, whether within the framework of family ties or friendly relations, a dialogue is created that is beneficial for both parties. The author tries to capture him casually in the form of a grandson visiting his beloved grandmother, such an important person in his life. In Marek's project, a significant social aspect of creation, mapping the personal environment of a close person, was also investigated.

 

In addition to always interesting and meaningful content with a multi-meaning message capturing the various activities of his grandmother, he also tries to find some aesthetic qualities, either through an interesting visual composition or in the search for an unusual colour combination. Individual small-format photos are adjusted in atypical wooden frames, which are meant to refer to the grandmother's household. However, the installation is also complemented by a site-specific installation intervention of archival photographs of the grandmother in small decorative frames, which create a homely, cosy atmosphere of the always well-adjusted hostess.

 

At the same time, the digitally printed photo on paper is complemented by two multimedia interventions. The first is in the form of a short archival video recording of a family event in the living room and the second is in the form of a visual projection on the wall in the kitchen in the form of several short video sequences, recording the serving of food to his grandson - photographer and recipient in one person.

 

All of this is enhanced by the grandmother's handwritten notes on the refrigerator, which generate an authentic form for the entire project in the most human form, even as part of the artist's conceptual project. Despite everything that the "blue grandmother" has been very popular among Instagram followers for years, the author managed to preserve her anonymity and privacy, which is valued and necessary nowadays. The exhibition is part of the project: OFF_Satellite within OFF_Bratislava.

 

The author's perseverance in this unique documentary photo project, which he has been intensively working on since 2007, is also extremely positive and admirable. By popularizing his grandmother, he thus indirectly refers to the importance of building and maintaining social relationships not only in the family but as a whole in everyday life.

 

Being with someone we like and spending our free time with helps us find our place and mission not only in the family but in the whole society. The energy put into this project circulates positively not only between the two protagonists of the art photo project but also gives hope and strength for the good of our entire divided, polarized society.

 

Therefore, such a connecting and mass-intervening project can be an ideal way to find common ground and point out the diversity of opinion spectrum that can work in parallel side by side, if they are mutually tolerated and accepted within the framework of the democratic principles of a developed, humanely oriented society.

 

Andrej Jaroš, curator