Miran Bratuš Young hopes

A work comprising almost 500 images collected into a photographic book, that overthrows the expectations of narrative and presents a sort of cynical diary of pleasant but mostly unpleasant sides of life, which in an era of self-promotion and self-marketing is often suppressed, hidden or left forgotten. The book’s design was conceived with the help of Marko Damiš, who translated the concept and idea of the book into a physical object, a 4 kilogram pink brick of a book. With this in mind the author wants to remind us of another aspect of the lives of young adults, their place in society, their aspirations of love, employment and a place to call their own, which during the maturation of Generation Y took a drastic shift from the environment they were raised in and the almost existential nonsense of it all. “Go to school, get good grades, and you’ll have a good life and a decent job”,... and similar sayings that are, in a contemporary environment, left hanging like some absurd statements from a past that no longer exists.

Projectile:

In the photographic work titled Young Hopes, Miran Bratuš, firstly, presents the question whether aimlessness and acceptance of reality have been handed down to a generation to which only the absolutes of illusion or reality belong. So he presents an entirely social question in the first place, which gradually turns into a professional question of the attitude towards the truth and its staging. The question of whether what an appearance offers is really what we conceive of as real leads him to an analysis of his own work. In this archive, the author draws on the main issues, which, as it turns out, relate more to ethical issues than to the relationship to the truth. In his analytical research work, he deals with the field of documentary photography, or more precisely Gonzo photography, which paves the way to the ​real​ but not to the​ truth​ through a first-person narrative. This separation leads him to explore the narratives of different authors from which he draws not only guidance but also support, a kind of confirmation that he is not alone in his efforts to create the appearance of what surrounds him. Here, the author already walks a thin line that marks the dividing line between presenting the truth and the viewer’s interpretation. He intentionally or unintentionally places the viewer in the position of Panoptes (the observer with a hundred eyes), who does not close his eyes to everyday life and is completely emancipated from what is happening around him. The author Miran Bratuš in his photo book, where through design continues his attitude towards the viewer, who deliberately obscures or reveals the contents in an intelligent, impulsive, sometimes even provocative way. He conceives the book not only as a series of photographs but as an object that manifests itself in its color, shape, and weight.

The weight of the book and the weight of the burden that the author carries in the panoptic record is a decision that will gain its true validity through the transience of those who are on and/or looking at the photographs. Let me label the product, object or book as a bold move by the author, which I can describe in one word. A projectile.

- Peter Koštrun

Miran Bratuš:

After completing his education at the Secondary School of Civil Engineering, Geodesy and Economics in Ljubljana, he attended the IAM College of Multimedia. As a student he already worked at RTV Slovenia, as a video technician and editor at the Jožef Štefan Institute (JSI) and a videographer on the web portal Vest.si. After completing his studies with a specialization in video production, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (ALUO), majoring in photography. During his education he was active in the field of photography and multimedia and for the projects in which he participated, he also received numerous nominations and awards (FSF, Rovinj Photo Days,...), by name and also as a member of various film and theater teams. During his education at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, he completed one semester as part of an Erasmus student exchange at the Bratislava Academy of Arts and Design (VŠVU). After completing his studies at ALUO, he continues his work in the field of photographic art and film.