Coolture Column

"I just took some pictures while on several trips to Nepal, China, Croatia and Kenya. When I got home, I developed the film. It wasn't until then that I realized I was a photographer," Swanee Hunt, the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, said as she opened her first photo exhibit in Bratislava. Hunt, a businesswoman and philanthropist who holds masters degrees in psychology and religion and a doctorate in theology, has brought with her a deeply moving photo essay on the common innards of mankind the world over.

The Hunt is On



"I just took some pictures while on several trips to Nepal, China, Croatia and Kenya. When I got home, I developed the film. It wasn't until then that I realized I was a photographer," Swanee Hunt, the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, said as she opened her first photo exhibit in Bratislava.

Hunt, a businesswoman and philanthropist who holds masters degrees in psychology and religion and a doctorate in theology, has brought with her a deeply moving photo essay on the common innards of mankind the world over. Most of her work is of people, usually in poverty-stricken third-world countries, whose faces are deeply saddened by work, war and sorrow. The show, which has toured all over Austria but never been outside until now, showcases other portraits equally somber, but certainly not depressing.

"As the American Ambassador to Austria I am very busy, so photography is really only one-tenth of one percent of my life. But if I think about my life without it, everything would be gray," she said enthusiasticly in a recent interview. "I try to enlighten the world about multi-culturalism through my pictures. Through innoncence, bonding, vitality, wisdom, hardship and solitude; to put the entire world into perspective. I have no words now, only pictures."

Ambassador Swanee Hunt's photo exhibition "Witness" ("Svedok" in Slovak) opened on October 12 and will continue to run until November 3 at the Galéria fotografie PROFIL located at Prespoštká 4 in Bratislava. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm. The show is scheduled to go on the road next month to Budapest, Bregenz and Linz.

At the Bratislava Castle, there are several new exhibitions and displays during the month of November in the Historické múzeum including some awesome historical furniture. Some of the exhibitions are free, but some cost up to 40 Sk. They are open daily from 10 am to 6 pm.

Slovkoncert will sponsor the Komarno Women's Trio on Sunday, October 29. Their melodic acoustics will fill the Mirbachov Palace on Bratislava's Františkánské námestie promptly at 10:30 am. Sundays are "lazy-days", I know, but get out to see this one.

Bratislava's Gremium Café will host a jazz festival during the evenings of November 3, 6 and 8. Musicians rom Slovakia, Austria, the U.S. and the Czech Republic will perform each of those evenings, beginning at 8 pm at Gremium on Gorkého ulica. For more information, call 321-818.

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"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
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