Have a look at the last episode of Art in Isolation with Jan Ságl

„Contemporary underground culture amounts to voluntary modesty. Starting with one’s self is the only way,“ says photographer Jan Ságl. Have a look at the last episode of our documentary series Art in Isolation, which we have prepared in collaboration with Memory of Nations.

„All forms of totalitarianism, and power in general, do not like when you’re different. They’re always bothered by difference, because when you’re different, you’re free,” says Czech photographer Jan Ságl, who spent the 1970s mapping the local underground scene, led by Ivan Magor Jirous and The Plastic People of the Universe.

Jan Ságl (born 1942) has been dedicated to photography since his youth, when his friendship with Ivan Magor Jirous and his interest in alternative music led him to cooperate with the rock bands The Plastic People of the Universe and The Primitives Group. In the 1960s, he was shooting for the magazines Výtvarná práce and Výtvarné umění. He also worked with his wife, the artist Zorka Ságlová, documenting her happenings. During the normalization period, Ságl was part of the underground scene, focusing his practice on landscapes. In the 1980s, he was employed by foreign agencies in Vienna, Paris, and Milan. He was one of the first photographers to abandon black-and-white film in favor of color photography.