ZORA PLEŠNAR

1925, Maribor, Slovenia

Above the Clouds, 1977

black and white photograph

Photographer Zora Plešnar’s oeuvre is marked by her interest in experimenting with the medium, and this is especially apparent in the pictures in which she creates, stages, or records fleeting motions, mirrored images, and reflections. The latter in particular could be said to represent her artistic credo: everything is also visible in reflections. Most of her photographs were taken during her trips around Europe. As in all her works, the view is also directed forward in the series Above the Clouds, which was taken during an airplane flight. In these shots, the artist looks at the world from close up and then lets her view extend into the infinity of the skies. Also typical of her work is the very precise framing of shots. The foreground is well-balanced with all other parts of the view as it stretches before us, infinite in time and space.

The Birth of a City, New Belgrade series presents the construction of an urban residential area, as in the selected sequences of a film. The sky and land are treated equally in terms of significance and lighting, with the emerging urban structures jutting out between them like foreign bodies in the landscape.