Tanja Verlak

Courtesy of the Artist

Tanja Verlak (Slovenian, b. 1979) Tanja Verlak photographed her exceedingly serious and melancholic series ZOO at zoos in various European cities. Her black-and-white photography technique emphasizes the cold, confined spaces that animals are often forced to inhabit while in captivity. This series not only critiques the system that allows such treatment but also expresses man’s inability to recall his long-standing connection with nature. Verlak has exhibited at Paris Photo; AIPAD New York; the Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston; and the National Museum of Photography, Prague among others. She is a recipient of the Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship; the British School at Rome Residency; and the Zois Scholarship for Gifted Students in Sciences and Arts. She has a PhD from the Royal College of Art in London, an M.Phil. from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and a degree in documentary photography from the Academy of Performing Arts – FAMU in Prague