Jozef Sedlak among the first in Slovakia photographed people with various forms of disability. It was a compulsion and adrenaline as well. The political system in the 80s was hiding these people in impersonal institutions as if they did not exist. Author approached them at the most personal level. He did not try to capture distorting and torn fragments of their world. He was not afraid of them. As equal, full of humanity, understanding and face to face, he recorded their daily live, it`s dynamics and silence, carnival celebrations, but also an illegal theater project, which involved nuns, monks and priests. Interconnection and acceptance. Only with these ingredients a long-term project is formed. It is a testimony for us and for future generations that people, not monsters, were unjustly hidden from people.
Photographs are authorized © Jozef Sedlak.
