Porta portese - Dagmar Hochová

Dagmar Hochová (1926) takes black and white photographs, using natural light, never arranging her objects. Her photographs have the quality of snapshots as they are usually taken at the moment when the photographer has become so close with the photographed person that she is no longer perceived as a photographer. Hochová does not stage scenes and she does not require repeated shots; she puts emphasis on authenticity and uniqueness of the moment she is able to envisage in the development of the situation. Her perspective is always humane and sympathetic even in drastic situations; she never tries to sensationalize life’s cruelty. The Czech-Italian-German-English monograph Porta portese depicts the atmosphere of an Italian street from the 1960s up to 1987.