Diversity of socialism depicted in Maria Švarbová’s new photo series

Diversity of socialism depicted in Maria Švarbová’s new photo series

Slovak photographer Maria Švarbová is a master at romanticizing the post-Soviet milieu: the aesthetics of our Eastern heritage subtly dominates her whole artwork, while the bittersweet atmosphere in her pictures flies us to a utopian world. A perspective vision and the co-existence of diversity are both present in her latest series called Two Sides.


The soft ambivalence characterizing the photo series is a part of Švarbová’s unique visual expression, originating from the particularities of the socialist era. Minimalism, the open spaces defining the Brutalist architecture, the dynamics of color and the blank gaze of the models are all attributes of the artist, but this time, she also reveals a sensitivity to the optical relationship between water and space. The water motif is a recurring element in her work, both as a powerful metaphorical device and as a technical tool that perfectly creates the visual medium necessary for symmetry.

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Source: Behance

If you find Maria Švarbová’s work strangely familiar, you’re not wrong, as we’ve featured current and fascinating projects of the Slovak photographer several times on the pages of Hype&Hyper.