Documentary photographer, Veronika Lukasova, grew up in Brno, Czech Republic, in the former Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic. She has spent the past nine years outside of her homeland trying to piece her world together. Her life has never been smooth and straightforward, but rather fragmented: growing up in a former communist country, seeing the unsustainable regime, witnessing her former Czechoslovak country divide into Czech and Slovak only a few years later. This life experience is reflected subconsciously in her photographs as she journeys through various lands and continuously observes and interprets people and places all over the world.

Veronika Lukasova carries two cameras with her on assignment: one professional camera for the newspapers and magazines she is working for and then her plastic Holga camera to record her visions of the world. Lukasova’s perceptual world consists of juxtaposed, multiplied, layered, repetitive and chaotic mental impressions. Creating the panoramic multi-exposed images inside the camera brings her closer to her personal vision, rather than a singular image created in a traditional photographic manner. She records scenes of life and living, often one great vista spanning an entire roll of film. Lukasova then doesn’t cut the negatives into strips, but instead prints the roll as one continuous, rolling image, sometimes 7 feet long. Life. Fragmented and shattered, but then pieced back together with her lens. These giant panoramic images truly push the boundaries of photography and make us re-think what is possible to create with a lo-tech plastic camera!

Also in conjunction with Veronika Lukasova’s “Occurrences”, is RayKo’s First Annual Juried Plastic Camera Show. Come see the strange and stunning images made by the winners of this competition. Photographers from all over the Bay Area as well as national and international entries are included in this dynamic exhibit.

Photograph by Ellen Sevigny