In what ways do you believe you influence your subjects through photography and vice versa?
I always love the kick of inspiration that I feel when somebody in the crowd intrigues me, and I feel instantly interested to photograph them. The people I photograph influence me from the very first minute I spot them. It’s their energy and personality that shines through the picture. And at the same time, it bounces off of me and my identity and shows the connection that we create together. It’s a mutual exchange. It’s a moment of trust, personal connection and vulnerability on both sides of the camera.
And then there are these precious moments during the exhibition openings when people encounter their own portraits projected multiple times bigger than life size on a wall. And it sparks a feeling of justification, that it is okay to be who you are, that it is okay to have flaws, that it is okay to be vulnerable. I have done four solo shows during the past year in NYC, Russia, Czech and Berlin, and they all had the most amazing energy of celebrating being who you are together with the people who are in the photographs. At the opening in Czech, there was a whole new generation of young queer kids who came and talked to me. It was a very special moment to realize that there is a new generation of youth in Czech, and they feel inspired and safe within my work to fully express themselves. These are the most touching moments that make me realize that the work is worth it and how important it still is nowadays to keep creating empowering spaces and experiences.
Do you think that themes of youth can transcend generations?
Yes, absolutely. Youth drives the change. And I think that it is up to the youth to stand up and change things to be how they want it—otherwise, no one will. And I think this is really what is going on, and it is why even though things seem so conservative, things can change if people are visible and vocal. This is what inspires me about all of these young Americans—they reflect what they are. They are themselves, and they have a voice and a presence. I was born behind a wall, the Iron Curtain, which finally came down in the 90s after students initiated the whole Velvet Revolution that ended communist time in Czechoslovakia. Why is there even any talk of another wall going up? Walls divide—they need to be taken down. That, in a sense, is the essence of my portraits—there is no dividing space between you and them, or me and them, or me and you. There are no walls.
I couldn’t say it better than Thomas Beachdel did in the press release for the Young American exhibition: “One could contextualize this body of work in the increasingly important and powerful voice of youth culture that is in the process of vitally reshaping gender, society, culture, and perhaps igniting a subtle and much needed ideological revolution that has its own history, as can be seen, most notably, in the 1967 Summer of Love centered in San Francisco, the events of May 1968 in Paris, or the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Prague. We could go far deeper, of course, and see this power of youth to assert and forge new cultural identity in early nineteenth-century Romanticism, the anti-establishment vision of the Impressionists, the anti-bourgeoisie stance of the German Expressionists, the automatic freedom of the Beat Generation, the bright veneer of POP, the disharmonious edge of PUNK and the Blank Generation, and the self-awareness of Generation X, Y,...Z. The beat goes on.”