Her escape from a stressful life in Prague was a last-minute trip to Lesbos, Greece.

Leaving the city behind, she found serenity on the island whilst facing the blue of the sea and the sky. She experienced herself in the immensity of space, with nothing in between her and the calming straight line of the horizon. It made her think about how trapped we all are in our constructed realities of urban centers, where the struggle for success makes us disconnected from nature, and in consequence from ourselves.

 

After leaving the island, Darija started exploring the ways humans search for solutions to the problems that urban contrived spaces create.  She did so in Prague, where she lives, but also during her travels: in Greece, Czech Republic, Holland, United States, Germany, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Croatia. In all those places Darija searched for moments of serenity.

 

Darija composes her photographs carefully, usually placing her subjects in the center, capturing their relationship with their surroundings.  She examines them through their experience of the space.

 

Escapes is an exploration about the human experience, about our state of mind during those moments of tranquility, but also the physical aspect of it- like in a photograph of a fairground ride. We look up at the sky and see people comfortably sitting on the ride, spinning gently in space, with nothing above them but blue sky.

We come to realize that being connected with ourselves means being connected to space.

Darija's Escapes is a search for something we have lost along the way. It is a search for our origins, our connection with nature and with one another. Therefore Escapes is, in paradox, a search for the way back home.

 

Silvia Potocki