Tereza Červeňová

June evolved absolutely organically. I just followed my way of working – which I always describe as a flow. It takes form of spontaneous responses to the people around me and places which I inhabit – both physically and mentally. I have lived in the UK my whole adult life – this is the 8th year now that I decided to build my life in London. So when the referendum results came in – it shook my everyday reality, which was already a reality of an uncertain and challenging life of an artist in London anyways.

Because my work is very diaristic in a sense that it is an autobiographical way of making sense of the world, I knew that there is no way Brexit would not have an impact on my work. The reason why the original version of June encompasses just 2 years is partly due to the duration of my MA at the Royal College of Art, which unfolded in symmetry with the 2-year period of the so-called Brexit divorce. The timing was in fact precise to the exact calendar date, as my degree finished exactly two years after the EU referendum – on 23rd June 2018. I saw it as a sign and decided to work with it. When I started working on June I was first looking for symbols. It started as an impulse to respond and make sense of the deeply upsetting and precarious situation. I knew that the vote would leave an indelible mark on my practice due to the diaristic nature of my work. And whilst going through the process I recognized the essence of my artistic imprint, which lies in my desire to not divide between aspects of my personal life, artistic practice and commissioned work. They all permeate and inform each other. So in fact, in the year that so many things ruptured, embracing entirety became a gesture of resistance.

In retrospect I realise that I was doing many things subconsciously from the start, but the first real breakthrough happened on 8th June 2017 – the day of Theresa May’s SNAP election. I remember how the feeling of powerlessness prevailed in me. I had no legitimate right to have a say on how the place I chose to live would change, so – out of sadness and desperation – I took my camera and went out to photograph. It was a sad day, only a few days after the terror attacks at Borough Market and London Bridge. I wasn’t sure what I will come back with, if anything will be usable at all, but I knew that was the only voice I had. And I needed to speak.

From that experience the importance of the dates and locations started to crawl onto the surface. The question of how can I respond to a very journalistic topic in a subtle and not straightforward way has been on the forefront of my making. However, in the end, it was when I stopped working against it and used it to my advantage that things started to clarify. When I decided to title each image only by its date and location, I created a framework. The titles became something like a GPS coordinates. I wasn’t telling, neither showing explicitly, what happened on those days, however, it gave all the hints that were necessary for people, if they were intrigued, to search and find out more for themselves. In fact, June demands a certain amount from the viewer, because aside from the titles themselves, no clue is given to the events of the day. But that decision is also a response to the way we consume imagery and information in general, in masses and taken for face value, while things are a lot more layered and meaningful.

Tereza Červeňová (b. 1991, Bratislava, Slovakia) received her BA in Photography from Middlesex University in 2014 and her MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art, London in 2018.
Červeňová’s work is characterized by juxtaposing delicate imagery and soft light with political and personal references. The artist often photographs people who play an important role in her life as she is drawn to the connections that exist between herself and the sitter(s). Her portraits and landscapes have a painterly, other-worldly dimension which is often juxtaposed with the symbolism of her chosen subjects. Červeňová’s project June, conceived after the Brexit referendum in 2016, is a poignant commentary on the displacement of young people in Europe. The work and subsequent Artist Book were included in an exhibition at the Brighton Photo Biennial of 2018.
Selected group exhibitions include Site Gallery, London (2021); ALMA ZEVI, Venice (2021 & 2020); Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool (2019); Parliament, London (2019); Royal College of Art Summer Show, London (2018); Museum of London, London (2018). In 2019, Cervenová was a finalist for the MACK First Book Award, Nominee for Foam Paul Huf Award. She was awarded the Bloomberg New Contemporaries prize in 2017 and was a finalist for the European Photography prize in the same year. Her work is included in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery, London (UK); John Kobal Foundation, London (UK); TATE Artist’s Book Collection, London (UK); Fine & Decorative Art Collection, Eton College, Windsor (UK). Tereza Cervenová completed a residency at ALMA ZEVI, Venice in 2019.

View of exhibition