The exhibition at GMU’s White Cube takes a unique look at the changing face of Hradec Králové between 1954 and 1984 through photographs taken by two local personalities – Zdeněk Merta (b. 1955) and, to a lesser extent, his father Jan (1927–2022). The exhibited black-and-white photographs represent only a fraction of the family’s extensive archive, with the last images dating to 1984, the year Zdeněk moved to Prague.
Zdeněk Merta’s work was significantly influenced by his father, an enthusiastic puppeteer and photographer. As a child, his regular visits to Hradec Králové’s DRAK Theatre – where his father Jan documented children’s performances in 1964–1976 as a freelance photographer – awakened an early interest in the theater. Zdeněk himself has been taking photographs since he was seventeen years old. His first series of distinctive images date to the second half of the 1970s, and he continues to systematically engage in photography to this day.
The photographs selected for the exhibition capture Hradec Králové’s main square and the historic old town, the greater city center, the local cultural scene, and important people from Merta’s life, but there are also picturesque landscapes and still-lifes.
Zdeněk Merta’s photographs form a valuable visual archive that documents not just the changing face of Hradec Králové during the socialist era but also captures the life of its residents, its architecture, and the city’s urban space. The exhibition invites visitors to remember, to discover, and to compare the images to the city’s appearance today. Above all, it pays tribute to a photographer who has created a body of work that transcends the documentary genre and whose artistic quality makes it a unique witness to an era.
The exhibition is held as part of 800th anniversary celebrations of the town of Hradec Králové.
