Slovak artist paused her work to tell the stories of Ukrainian refugees; now she wants America to see them.
Jana Rajcová’s exhibition will open at the Iowa museum in late September.
Mark Dillon, a fourth-generation Slovak-American and author, is chair of the Board of Directors of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International.
Just three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended countless lives, Bratislava-based photographer Jana Rajcová resolved to channel her expertise in documentary photography into a project that would make an impact.
A London University of Westminster alumna with a background in photojournalism, Rajcová began her journey on March 2, 2022, when she first met Masha, a refugee sheltered by a friend. What started as an ad hoc effort to document the refugee experience soon evolved into a mission of storytelling.
“I wanted to restore the dignity of these people in my photographs,” she told The Slovak Spectator.
Rajcová’s self-financed project, “Exodus.Report”, encompassing almost 100 portraits and stories, reflects her growing realisation of the project’s significance and her commitment to capturing the resilience and humanity of those displaced by the conflict.
“Its goal is to evoke empathy in viewers and be a memento for all,” she said about her ‘documentary evidence’.
As of August 25, nearly 126,000 Ukrainians have crossed into Slovakia seeking temporary protection since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to the Slovak Interior Ministry’s website. This influx ranks among the highest in the European Union.
The Slovak photographer expressed her honour at the refugees’ willingness to open their hearts to a stranger, despite the language barrier and their unfamiliarity with her.
“I feel a tremendous responsibility for the trust they placed in me,” she said.
Having presented “Exodus.Report” to audiences in Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, Rajcová’s perspective on Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia is now coming to the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Opening on September 19, “Exodus.Report” will be the first solo US showing for the photographer, and she will be visiting the Midwest for the event.
Evzenia, 38; Artem, 12; and Rostislav, 1, appear in Rajcová’s project. (Source: Courtesy of J. R.)Counterbalance to Russian propaganda
Reached at her home in Virginia, Katarina Skladony, a long-time volunteer at Friends of Slovakia (FOS), a Washington-based organisation co-sponsoring the Cedar Rapids exhibition, told The Slovak Spectator that her group learned of Rajcová’s work in May 2022 when they sponsored a global webinar about Slovaks’ initial responses to Russian aggression in Ukraine and the inflow of Ukrainian refugees.
“The stories she gathered and presented were very, very moving for all of us. She put her commercial career on hold to document what was happening,” said Skladony.
Rajcová’s work also brought back memories for Skladony. As a child in Trnava, a town just a 40-minute drive from Bratislava, she said she witnessed the brutality of the Soviet-led 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which ended the communist country’s democratisation efforts and returned it to oppressive rule.
“I saw how those times impacted the lives of my family and the whole country,” said Skladony.
After the 2022 webinar, fellow FOS board member Cecilia Rokusek, president and CEO of the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library, along with Thomas W. Skladony, a founding member of FOS and Katarina’s husband, got the ball rolling to bring Rajcová’s work to America.
The exhibition in the Iowa museum will run through late January 2025.
However, FOS is already trying to arrange additional exhibits of Rajcová’s work in Washington and New York, and Katarina noted that the organisation is open to exploring opportunities in other US cities if co-sponsors and venues can be found.
For example, in Minneapolis and Chicago—two US cities with large Ukrainian diaspora and refugee populations—public photo exhibits focused on war refugees were held this past February 24 and July, respectively. These were sponsored by the Fulbright organisation and the Lithuanian community, with Lithuania being another European Union member state where Ukrainian refugees have settled.
Cultural leaders such as the Skladonys, who have ties to both the USA and Slovakia, see visual documentary works like Rajcová’s as crucial counterweights to the pervasive Russian and Russophile propaganda about Ukraine that inundates both countries. Slovak genealogist Michal Rázus, who presented a May 2022 webinar titled “Helping Families in Time of Crisis” for the US-based group Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, shares the perspective.
“It is good to realise who is the attacker and who is the victim,” said Rázus, who lives in the eastern Slovak town of Prešov and has been assisting Ukrainian refugees since the war began.
Alla is a 64-year-old Ukrainian woman who features in Rajcová's "Exodus.Report" project. (Source: Courtesy of J. R.)Refugees’ lives in photos and words
With the war now two and half years old, Rajcová has also been devoting time to keeping in touch with her photo subjects, learning about their evolving lives, and simply sharing coffee, listening, and appreciating their perspectives.
She admires their determination, even as their families are torn apart by the war.
“You stay in touch with your husband or your parents in Ukraine, and every day you are hoping that your phone calls will be answered, your messages will be read, and in that way you know your loved ones are okay,” she explained.
Rajcová’s project, “Exodus.Report”, includes not only photos but also hundreds of hours of recorded interviews. Therefore, the photographer is considering publishing her subjects’ stories as a book, allowing readers to follow how the war developed and, hopefully, experience the profound impact of faith and unceasing hope.
Rajcová’s display is said to be the first uniquely Slovak photography exhibit on Russia’s war in Ukraine in the USA, though that does not seem to impress her.
“I only wish for one thing,” she said, “that these photos and stories be seen and read by as many people as possible, so we can learn and never forget.”
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