Joie et refuge opens a new portal in Paris—where Czech photography drifts between dream and reality, searching for joy and shelter in the unseen.
This November, the Czech Center in Paris transforms into a portal for a new generation of Czech photographers who are reframing what it means to capture reality in the digital age. Joie et refuge (Radost and skrys), curated by Štěpánka Stein in collaboration with Teleport Gallery, the Czech Center’s Radka Ondráčková, and perfume house Pigmentarium, gathers fourteen of the country’s most distinctive visual voices for an exhibition.
Part of PhotoSaintGermain, Paris’s annual photography festival that turns the Left Bank into a living gallery of exhibitions, installations, and late-night artist encounters, Joie et Refuge runs alongside Paris Photo, situating Czech photography in dialogue with the international scene. The participating artists and photographers, including Marie Tomanová, Hana Knížová, Bára Prášilová, Tereza Zelenková, Vladimír “Kiva” Novotný, among others explore joy and refuge as fragile states of being: the tension between public and private, exposure and retreat, connection and solitude.
Upon entering, you are immediately greeted with the scent of Pigmentarium’s custom fragrance drifts through the air, while a green wax sculpture by Martin Žák in a cast of a female torso burns and reshapes over the course of the month, a poetic embodiment of transformation and impermanence.
A century after Czech avant-garde artists found freedom in Paris, Joie et refuge returns not with manifestos, but with questions. “Joy is not instant, refuge is not escape,” curator Štěpánka Stein stated. “It is a space where photography becomes a language for the invisible and the unspoken.”
The works oscillate between documentary and dream, offering cinematic, surreal, and deeply personal visions of life today many of which are captured by women. From Marie Tomanová’s raw portraits of identity and youth to Bara Prášilová’s meticulously staged fantasies, each image becomes both mirror and mask, a record of what it feels like to be alive right now.
Hana Knížová
Bara Prasilova
Hana Knizova
Katerina Sysova
Marie Tomanova
Michaela Cejkova
Michaela Cejkova
Tereza Kopelentova
Tereza Kopelentova
Viktorie Macanova
Vladimir Kivanovotny
Vojtech Veskrna
Wlasta Laura
Czech Center Paris, 18 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris
Until 30 November,2025
Exhibition architect: Vendy Mlejnská
In partnership with: Teleport Gallery, Pigmentarium, Moravian Gallery, and the PPF Foundation
