Břetislav SobekThere is an exhibition John Wehrheim: Paradise Lost taking place at Prague City Gallery. It shows the life of hippies in 70s. They tried to escape strict societal rules, the war in Vietnam and brutal police interventions against them in the USA.
The exhibition is open to the public from 12. 10. 2022 until 8. 1. 2023.
About John Wehrheim
John Wehrheim is a photographer who worked for the National Geographic. He got to Kauai island on the Hawaii as a part of his job for Kauai Historical Society and State Foundation on Culture and Arts. He photographed plantation-era architecture and its people for them. He managed to reach a hippies community in Taylor Camp. He photographed the hippies and the Taylor Camp from 1972.
Taylor Camp
Taylor Camp was a hippies settlement which was set up in 1969 at Kauai island on Hawaii. The settlement was self-sufficient in food production predominantly. Its inhabitants grew their own vegetables and caught fish. The settlement had 120 inhabitants at its peak. Eventually the settlement was raided and dismantled by the police. The government wanted to make space for a national park. Last inhabitants had to move out in 1977 because of the police raid. The area has lied fallow since 1977 and nothing has been built there.
The people who lived in Taylor Camp were prosecuted in the USA for vagrancy. Freethinkers, surfers and Vietnam war veterans were gradually arriving there. They lived in houses built in treetops. They built the houses themselves. One of the settlers was an architect. He designed them.
Impressive photo collection gracefully arranged
I guess there are around 100 photographs arranged on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the gallery. The photographs are glassed in elegant frames. They are laid out in an airy way and the lightning is optimal. The whole space gives an impression of openness and simplicity. It provides for a great opportunity to fully concentrate on each piece and enjoy it. It allows visitors to wholly immerse in them and become part of them.
There is a member of the staff on each floor, almost a room, to give you answers on your questions.
Eyes and face expressions which speak to you
Lots of emotions and internal strength radiate from face expressions of Taylor Camp inhabitants. Feelings which struck my heart could be described by these words: fulfilment, personality, nakedness, people with a character, drugs, joy and liberty, self-sufficiency and being bound by rules.
It is the total opposite of the everyday reality and “ordinary” people which you meet on the public transport commuting to work in the morning. The people in the photos stand out on their own from the average of the then society. Nowadays it is nothing special and their attitude and behaviour is a standard. The legacy of hippies stays with us.
Once I met a group of girls on the train. They gave me the same impression as the hippies by John Wehrheim. I could see a talent and a personality which made them special. Afterwards I found out they attend Montessori school. It is a place where spontaneity and naturalness aren’t suppressed but encouraged.
We are born as perfect spheres. We begin attending institutions which try to turn us into cuboids. At the end we are neither a sphere nor a cuboid. We neither stand nor roll. That’s the reason why I recommend you to visit the exhibition to remind you of a time when you were a sphere. To remind you of oneself.
Screening The Edge of Paradise
There is a screening of a documentary movie The Edge of Paradise (2018). The movie is a retrospect behind the Taylor Camp. The people in the movie are former residents of the Taylor Camp. They reflect on the experience from the view of a person living in 2018. It is possible to see and feel how much enriching it was for them (And some of them would like to return back to the time of the Taylor Camp.) On the other hand, it also shows the negative influence on their children.
What curator does
A curator is person who talks to an author, fundraises money and creates how the whole exhibition looks like.
Number of visitors
Two staff members told me that there were around 270 visitors the first day and 167 visitors the second day. The majority of them were people interested in the topic than artists. They said the turnout was good.
