From 8 October to 3 November, the National Museum of Modern Art will feature an exhibition titled Anthropocene I (2019–2024) by the internationally acclaimed and highly awarded photographer Nenad Šaljić at the Josip Račić Gallery. For the premiere presentation of this cycle to the Zagreb audience, Branko Franceschi, the museum director and curator of the exhibition, has selected a series of colour photographs taken by Šaljić between 2019 and 2023, with the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, using the live photo – long exposure option, which he digitally post-produced this year. Concerning these works, Branko Franceschi writes: (...) In the introduction to his Anthropocene series, Šaljić discusses the anthropocentricity of the scientific interpretations of current climate changes. His artistic exploration of this concept centers on an image of the horizon line over the sea. The rising horizon line becomes the central narrative of the series, with the symbolic shifts in the colours of the sea and sky serving as the dominant compositional elements. The symbolic recreation of reality, coupled with a dystopian vision of its future, confronts us with a world of terrifying beauty – expressive and vivid, rather than the monotonous blue where sky and sea typically merge. We find ourselves not in the familiar landscapes of our home planet, but in an alien, inhospitable world of our own making.(...)
This visual artist, mountaineer and speleologist, has had his works included in various national and international collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Griffin Museum of Photography (USA), the Center for Fine Art Photography (USA), and the Museum of Arts and Crafts (Zagreb). He was born in 1961 in Sinj and currently lives and works between Split and Zermatt, Switzerland, at the foot of the Matterhorn, which is a perpetual source of inspiration for him. Šaljić received two prestigious awards in 2013 for his stunning photographs of the Matterhorn: the Sony World Photography Award and the first prize for best photography from National Geographic. Furthermore, one of the images from his Matterhorn series was showcased as part of Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter 2013–14 men’s collection presentation during Fashion Week at the Grand Palais in Paris. During the same season, the Void photography series inspired the Saxony brand’s fashion collection in Australia. After completing his education in Split, where he earned a PhD in economic sciences, Nenad Šaljić fully committed himself to artistic photography in 2007, transitioning from a successful career in university teaching and business. He exhibits in Croatia and abroad, and is represented by Kunsträume - Heinz Julen Art Gallery (Zermatt, Switzerland) and Kranjčar Gallery (Zagreb).
The proclamation of the Anthropocene as the current geological epoch appears, at its core, to be an embodiment of human arrogance. It implies our species as the primary architect of geological epochs, overshadowing eons shaped by natural forces. This term, while inadvertently highlighting the darker side of our ambition, risks neglecting the intricate complexities of the planet’s history and hindering a humble, collaborative approach to our relationship with Earth. - Nenad Šaljić, 2024
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Images: Nenad Šaljić Anthropocene I Cycle, 2019 – 2024 / Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, (Live Photo – Long Exposure)
Colour-graded photographs, Inkjet print on satin photo paper, 90 x 120 cm, mounted on KAPA® FIX foam board, black aluminium frame / Archival pigment ink prints on Hahnemühle Baryta paper 90 x 120 cm, / Edition 6 + 2 AP, 120 x 160 cm, / Edition 3 + 2 AP 150 x 200 cm, / Edition 3 + 2 AP