Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being,-My-Roots-Series,-December-2014-DSC3278

Pavel M
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Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being,-My-Roots-Series,-December-2014-DSC3278
Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being,-My-Roots-Series,-December-2014-DSC3278

This image is about my roots. We become greatly affected by our roots for life. A lot of our values and attitudes are either absorbed through the roots or are developed in response to the sap that we get from our roots. People whose roots span different cultures need to confront both wider breadth of ideas and attitude and also apparent conflicts between the values, thoughts and attitudes of different cultures. That shapes and enriches one's life and our roots are therefore important.

I grew up in Prague and Charles Bridge (construction started mid 14th century) across river Vltava and The Castle above dominated by the St. Vitus Cathedral is an iconic view of Prague, much painted and photographed.

I did not know much about Jewish culture and visited the old Jewish cemetery (see foreground) rarely, but it means more to me now. Almost all of my family perished during WWII. Nothing brought the enormity of what happened to me more clearly than a visit to Pinkas synagogue, where every inch of the walls is covered by the names of Czech Jews (almost 80 000 names) that perished during WWII. The rabbi found the names of my father's family for my father and me. My mother's family would not be listed. She is from what was then Poland and it is now part of Belarus. The names in the image represent a small random fragment of the names on the wall.

Most of my life I spent in Toronto, and I included the iconic Toronto skyline with CN Tower. The title is the name of a film made based on a book by the same name written by one of my favorite Czech writers Milan Kundera. The book deals a lot with Czech immigrant experience after Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and it resonates with me intensely.

I have some ideas for two more images to complete the series.

Any suggestions on how to improve this image is very welcome.

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Taken on: November 30, 2014
Sets appears in:   • GRAPHICAL AND ARCHITECTURE    • COLLAGES ETC.    more » • Collage stories    • Czech Republic    « less
Groups appears in:   • Surrealism    • PHOTOGRAPHERS OF CANADA    more » • Creative Photography    • * Surrealism .    • Surrealist    • Man Ray    • Magritte    • Artists Without Borders    • Photoshop Professionals    • Digital Fine Art Printing    • Surreal / Postmodern    • Surrealismo    • I Make Collages    • Cityscape and urban scenery    • Fine Art Printing - Digital Medium    • Surreal Shots    • Surrealism Art    • emergent artists    • Artistic Exposures    • The different kind of Art    « less
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