Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Zehra
- Artist: Josef Koudelka
- Date: 1967
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 351 × 538 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the "Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Zehra" by Josef Koudelka. Shot in 1967 as part of his first Gypsies series, it shows a Roma family in the small, dimly lit interior of a rural home in what was then Czechoslovakia. Koudelka, who used a 25‑mm wide‑angle lens, gets inside the everyday world of the Roma, capturing the rhythm of their life amid post‑war upheaval. The photo, a gelatin silver print, is striking in its composition: close, almost claustrophobic, yet full of resilience. He earned the nickname ‘Ikonar’ from the communities he worked with, a testament to the trust he built. This work is a powerful reminder of the cultural persistence of the Roma people during a period of forced integration and persecution across Europe.
See it in person
Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Zehra is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
