Visions and (new) expectations on photography – conversation with Ana Opalić

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of The Spot Gallery, we also look back on the beginnings of the web portal Contemporary Croatian Photography. The portal was launched in 2009 at the initiative of photographer Ana Opalić, with whom we talk not only about the circumstances that gave rise to the idea of creating a kind of database on Croatian photography, but also about its development and her view of the scene.

You are responsible for launching the web portal Contemporary Croatian Photography in 2009 – can you shed some light on the circumstances surrounding the portal’s beginnings? What inspired you to launch it?

 

I was talking to Gabrijela Ivanov one evening and I realised that the works of photographers like Boris Cvjetanović, Ivan Posavec, or Petar Dabac were not available online. You could not simply type their names into a search engine and find out what they were doing. That seemed ridiculous, so I said to Gabrijela: “Let’s create a web portal that will offer an insight into the Croatian photography scene and serve a sort of database.” Gabrijela really liked the idea and the two of us got to work. I contacted photographers and collected materials, and Gabrijela programmed the site. We organised the content and designed the layout of the portal together. The photographers responded to the project really well and that encouraged us to push forward. We received great feedback.

 

How was the portal initially conceived –what were the sections and what kind of content was featured? Who were the contributors on the portal?

 

The portal is designed as a database, that is, a gallery. The idea was that you could visit the portal and get an overview of the scene, find out what a particular artist is engaged with, get basic information about their work, read the texts about their work and contact the authors themselves for more details. We also that it was important for the portal be active – continuously showcasing new works and new names on the scene. The sections were very similar to today’s layout: photo galleries, author biographies, expert articles, news and, my favourite section, “Presenting” where we presented new works or exciting new authors, exhibitions and projects. In the beginning, Gabrijela and I did everything. Then, once the portal reached its intended scope, we gradually engaged collaborators to work on translations, texts and the like. It was very important to us that the material (which thus became accessible to everyone) was useful to students, art historians and curators in creating new narratives.

 

What was the photography scene like at the time, and what kind of media coverage did photography exhibitions and photography in general receive in Croatia? Did critics follow the events or did artists also double as critics?

 

I’d like to answer this question but somehow avoid listing names and dates, and try not to focus on comparisons of what was better or worse then, and what things are like today. The domestic photography scene has always boasted exceptionally strong authors. What was missing was a sufficient number of art historians who would immerse themselves in photography and dedicate themselves to it without hesitation, creating a vibrant and buoyant scene. In the local context, the theoreticians have always dealt with contemporary photography as a side quest, in different contexts and intermittently. Sandra Križić Roban was the first to decide to dedicate herself to photography without hesitation and continuously. The result of that decision is today’s Spot Gallery and the Office for Photography, which brings together young female art historians, running a series of excellent exhibitions, projects, collaborations, texts… The photography scene today is actually spearheaded by women. A new circle of young art historians has formed around Sandra and the Office for Photography, bringing with them new visions and new expectations of photography, and thus directly affecting all of us – the authors and our production. The Spot Gallery is a beautiful haven and a sort of safe place for photography.

 

Compared to these beginnings, what is the situation like today? To what extent does criticism influence the artists’ works, and how does it (if at all) affect the impressions of the audience?

 

Well, I can tell you firsthand how important a studied look and a smart text are to my work and, in general, how this contributes to the feeling that what I do makes sense. The feedback you get on a piece or an exhibition confirm to you that there are people who find what you said to be important, that you shared something, processed it, posed some questions, maybe even came up with an answer, that the story you have told is relevant in terms of a need for social change, that it resonates.

 

Are there any trends that have emerged in photography over the years? For example, engaging with archives and composing new narratives from existing materials is extremely popular today. What is the photography scene like today? Do you think there are thematic groups or genres that are more popular than others, or can we even talk about genres in today’s practice?

 

For the last decade, the most important issue for us has been digitization, or transferring the data online. After Covid, everything started happening online at a rapid pace. Projects dealing with digitization and archiving receive funded. Knowledge is being transferred from one area to another. Stories are being rearranged, acquiring new meaning and context. This is, of course, an opportunity for some things to become more important than they were, and others will fall away into the shadows, in line with our ideological settings at the moment. Also, in the local context, the Department of Photography of the Academy of Dramatic Art, whose programme has fostered a continuous production of works on certain topics (family contexts, reckoning with the past, different forms of intimate diaries, etc.), has played an important role in the development of young photographers in the country. Generally speaking, feminism has finally entered the “agenda” and we have become more open to LGBT stories. All of this is a reflection of a wider European liberal story; all of these new narratives did not enter the spotlight just like that. Art is ultimately simply a reflection of our social reality.

 

How did you get involved in photography in the first place – can you remember your own beginnings, what “triggered” your decision to choose this profession?

 

In fifth form of elementary school, I went on a school trip to the island of Lokrum. I asked my grandfather to lend me a small camera so I could take pictures. This idea that the trip would be more interesting and fun if I “took pictures”, that everything would somehow make sense, that taking pictures would transcend the experience itself, is what drives me as a photographer even today.

 

What would you highlight as important to you in your work?

 

Experience and communication are important to me. For me, the camera is an instrument for transforming experiences and an aid for perceiving, understanding, and categorising the world. The camera is a tool with which I am able to communicate everything that is ideologically important to me, and without the camera, I am not able to express this in any other way.

 

How would you answer the questions you asked Marina Viculin in 2010 in an interview published on the Contemporary Croatian Photography portal. Has your approach to photography changed, and to what extent?

 

“Personally, as a photographer, I am irritated by speed. For me, the essence of photography is surrender and presence. What interests me the most in photography is located beyond the gaze. To set the gaze apart and then take a photo. My question is, does photography necessarily capture anything? I mostly feel that photography is captured in various contexts in which we will observe it.”

 

My approach has not changed. I’m still slow and I still have that beginner’s feeling, a sense of discovery and questioning. What I have possibly caught, has caught me back and posed me a series of questions. Creation itself does not have some higher purpose that is unique to art. The point of creative process is participation and involvement.

 

How would you comment on the term “real moment”, often associated with photography?

 

I believe that photography shows exactly what did not happen. What happened in the photograph, happened only in the photograph. That is why we took it. The fact that it calls us to responsibility as authors does not absolve us of responsibility as mere observers and witnesses. We created this photograph with intention, wanted to show something, made some decisions. With that comes responsibility.

 

What do you think would be a good move for the development of Croatian photography? What do we need next and how to go about it?

 

I see the Croatian photography scene as an organism in which everyone has their own role and importance, and we all influence each other. Together we create a story, decide what is important to us, and what we want to pursue. It is good that we are aware of this because it allows us to have more respect for all the participants in this process. One segment of this process is irrational; it is not cognitive, but rather emotional and we should not ignore that. The most exciting aspect of the creative process is precisely that which we did not know, could not assume. We intuited and presaged something, contemplated and questioned it, but only through work does it become embodied. So, for the development of Croatian photography, we need to simply keep working persistently and love what we do.