The photographic exhibition Collectives, by Roman Franc, presents a selection of his group photographs taken in different countries and cultures since 2015, enriched by the original community portraits of six Czech villages in Banat. The result of a close collaboration between the artist and his subjects, the photographs function both as representation, self-representation and as a testimony of the cultural diversity of Banat and, by extension, of the whole of Romania.
"For several years now, Roman Franc has been photographing smaller and bigger groups of people in various relationships to one another, just as various reasons bring them before the lens of the author's camera. The series of group photographs of compatriots in the Romanian Banat are unique in the author's work in that they bring to life our national historical memory in depths we do not normally look into. After the fall of communism, we (Czechs) began to travel to Banat and study the local conditions with the obsession of ethnographers, seeing them as an exciting relic of the past. We are long past that phase, and Roman France's photographs show that today we are trying to figure out how we belong together as two parts of a single whole, conditioned by a common past.” (Jiří Pátek, Brno, 19th September 2023)
The project is part of the national cultural programme "Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023" and is funded through the European Echoes Timișoara 2023 programme, implemented by the Center for Projects Timișoara, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.
Organised in partnership with the Municipality of Timișoara through the Project Centre.