Photo Loka

Creating Škofja Loka's Photographic History

Castle Gallery, 18 Nov 2020–31 October 2021

Curators: Miha Colner, Nina Misson, Saša Nabergoj, Boštjan Soklič

The Photo Loka exhibition presents an overview of photographic creativity in Škofja Loka and the surrounding area since the early 20th century, focusing on some of the most prominent photographers who were either based or born here. The exhibition also explores the selected photographers' and artists' relationship to their immediate surroundings, the town of Škofja Loka and the space they live and work in.

The exhibition features some – not, however, all – important photographers who were active in Škofja Loka and the surrounding area for the past 120 years and helped form the local history through their creative endeavours, photography and visual culture. Due to their ever-present documentary nature, the photographs bear witness to the social sphere and history. The exhibition covers different photography genres and uses, the main focus, however, is on art photography created with various artistic intentions. Since visual culture and art are hybrid and transient in nature and can appear in several different contexts simultaneously, the exhibition also includes some practices that fall in the domain of photojournalism, as well as travel and vernacular photography.

The Photo Loka exhibition covers more than a century-long period of the advancement of photography, which coincided with the establishment of modern society as we know it today. It features the artists who worked during the early beginnings of (art) photography (Avgust Berthold) and in the post-war period between 1945 and 1990 (Janez Misson, Tone Mlakar, Peter Pokorn st., Vladimir Vlastja Simončič, Edi Šelhaus), as well as the protagonists of contemporary photographic practices that are either still active or were over the past 30 years (Urban Babnik, Mito Gegič, Jana Jocif, Sašo Kočevar, Tomaž Lunder, Janez Pelko, Igor Pustovrh, Tone Štamcar).