Letting go with Viktória Kollerová
By Alyssa McGillvery
Viktória Kollerová uses this photograph to explore hesitance as an approach to life. Slovakian-based artist Kollerová came to realize her passion for photography as the subject of photos at first, before becoming the photographer herself. She still finds solace in being the subject of many of her photographs today. In a sense, pursuing photography as an exploration of her own emotions and sense of self makes her the subject of many of her photographs. In this piece, a woman, nude and vulnerable, curls around a barren tree branch with a clear blue sky in the background.
The woman remains bent in the fetal position with her face covered. Though she should be able to look down at the ground and recognize her distance from it, she can’t. Vulnerable, innocent, and afraid she is unable to look down at the ground, the place she came from, her history. This inability to acknowledge her past is an inability to acknowledge a part of herself. She can cover her face to ignore her past, but that act blinds her, and it keeps her from moving forward with her life. Behind the woman, we see an enormous, cloudless sky. There exists the possibility for infinite growth and exploration. The woman’s hiding her face from the world and curling into the fetal position keeps her separated from this world of possibility and opportunity.
The leafless tree branch supports her in her hesitance, keeping her straddled between her past and her future. It is her limbo, permitting her inner turmoil which keeps her from facing herself and her surroundings. The branch is without smaller branches or leaves because it leads to nowhere and is a part of nothing. It is a bleak dimension. Kollerová insists that the woman must choose to be brave, face the world, and accept herself if she is ever to free herself of this limbo and live out a fulfilling life.
What do you think of this image?
