Dorota Franková
#2 min Dorota Franková
1. 1. 2025

States
On the one hand, it's a documentary set that captures six months of life in two psychiatric clinics on a cheap cell phone. The beginnings of my stay are shrouded in fog – only fragments of blurry images in my head. Through the photographs, I try to understand my STATUS and re-member encounters with people with whom I share a similar fate. I remember forming friendships in isolation, a strange and magical togetherness. The image of a heart that glowed in the distance outside the morgue. And the return to reality.
On the other hand, these are stylized self-portraits that serve as a valve in my struggle with my STATES. They offer a glimpse into my crazy world full of color, expressiveness, experience and emptiness, joy and sadness. I feel that I can at least for a while encapsulate the manifestations of my illness in photographs and gain a momentary peace. But then I have to start again. And again. And that's why I take pictures – in fact, that's why I take pictures.
Dorota Franková was nominated to Futures Talents by Fotograf Zone in 2024.
Co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union, FUTURES is a platform to increase the capacity, mobility and visibility of it's selected artists and to bridge the gap between emerging and established artists.
IMAGES CAPTIONS
All images: Dorota Franková, States, 2017–2023