These four photographs are from a series called “Prague 2022,” by Salt Lake City-based photographer Simon Živný. Živný’s father grew up in Prague, at a time when Czechoslovakia was part of The Eastern Bloc. Under the post-1968 regime, the family came under increasing pressure when a tapped phone call revealed Živný’s grandmother was trying to help fund dissident journalist (and later a politician) Jiří Dienstbier. The family fled the country, and Živný was brought up in Portland, Oregon. 

In “Prague 2022,” Živný revisits the country of his father’s family and compares the Prague of the ’60s and ’70s with the Prague he discovers in the new millenium. “Prague is like most old cities, history is everywhere. Hints of the history that my family was a part of is still visible in photos,” Živný says. “Dissidence and resistance against oppressors is always at least somewhat on peoples’ minds or memories.”

In college, Živný studied music composition, drawing, and printmaking. It was on his 2,650 mile walk from Mexico to Canada that he discovered photography (he published The Pacific Crest Trail in Pix; 2017: The Year of Fire and Ice after the trip). Now he carries a camera with him everywhere.

READ MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST AND VIEW MORE OF HIS WORK

Artists of Utah’s 35×35, Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, through Feb. 23

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UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.