Born in Paris to Slovenian parents, Sluban spent his childhood in Livold near Kočevje before returning to Paris where, after studying Anglo-American literature, he taught himself black-and-white analogue photography. This has remained his exclusive way of making images to this day. He embarked on his independent photography path in 1992 with a series of portraits of Slovenian poets. After witnessing the Balkan War and consciously deciding to work as an artist rather than a documentary photographer, photography became his way of life, combining the two poles of his Slovenian-French and nomadic identity.

His work oscillates between the confined spaces of juvenile prisons in France, Eastern Europe and Central and Latin America, and the vast landscapes of his worldwide travels, which are characterised by solitude, silence and deep contemplation. He has been photographing youth in prisons since 1995 and organises photography workshops for young prisoners to share his passion with them and give them the opportunity to express themselves creatively in an often hopeless environment.

The path from Elsewhere to Here could not have existed without the most important, extensive and extreme journeys, which are the solid path towards the highly individual authorial language that makes Sluban's photography so refined and recognisable. Among these journeys, many coincide in time and place, each representing an entirely new experience, such as his long journeys on the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian and Tibetan railways, which have already been presented in the East to East and Transsibériades series, as well as his stays in extreme conditions and remote, isolated places such as the Kerguelen Islands.

The distance that interests him most and that he bridges is not geographical, nor is it the distance between him and the subject, but between him and his camera. His way of photographing is impulsive and intuitive, often in motion, without any psychological study of the subject. The only sharpness that matters is the sharpness of feeling in symbiosis with the gaze that cuts into the vision of the shot. Sluban's photographs are landscapes inhabited by all the senses, which is also reflected in the exhibition's contemplative conclusion, where an image of the torii of a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima is complemented by a soundscape that conveys a holistic experience of snow and Japan, two of Sluban's most poetic motifs.

Klavdij Sluban exhibits his holistic and ongoing photographic projects at major international festivals, museums and galleries worldwide, often complemented by superb photo books and other publications. His works are part of national collections and institutions around the world and he has been honoured with many prestigious photography awards.

All the presented photographs have been printed in analogue and digital technique especially for this exhibition as the artist's donation to the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive photomonograph with a text by Marija Skočir and a poetry cycle by Boris A. Novak, which is also available as a special edition in a set with an original analogue photograph at the Jakopič Gallery and in the MGML online shop.

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The exhibition is available for travelling and showcasing at museums and galleries worldwide.
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Video presentation of the exhibition: