Featured Image: Cathedral, Prague 1998

Igor Malijevský

Igor Malijevský works dually as a poet and a photographer, uncovering the spirits found in the relation between the dark and the light. The poetic voice seeps into his visual language. Shadows, films, and layers of age cover the picture planes, but especially shadows, hanging over the old cities like a gauze. His books and printed objects are like a treasure box, both in their craft, (with the use of moody film and paper stocks) and in the surprises found in the imagery. 

I first saw Igor’s prints at my very first Fotofest, about a decade ago. What impressed me then continues to affect me. They’ve become my gold standard for capital M Mystery. And although they bring about a haunting familiarity and a kind of nostalgia, there is nothing common or truly familiar about them. Malijevský’s photographs make me feel that the past has come alive in the present. They are calibrated to a benevolent darkness; they are the setting for a myth before all the characters have arrived. 

Malijevský seems ambivalent about the past; it’s a beauty and a burden that one must work to shed. He plays with it, but he does not wish to be stuck in it. He recently burned much of his old print stash, purifying the store down to neat editions of 10. There’s an enchanting drama to this action. I evision Igor as both the photographer and the old man peering into the window in Workshop. He searches this scene of the past from both sides, pausing to appreciate, to frame it for us, then strolls on ahead into the glow of the street.

‑Lisa W.

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