Josef Koudelka. Invasion, Prague 68

For the first time, the entire photographic documentation of the Russian invasion of Prague will be exhibited in public, presented in this Italian premiere at Forma, curated by the actual witness of the dramatic historical event: Josef Koudelka.

Once again, exactly forty years after those events, Koudelka’s images return; their strength and humanity is still astonishing. In 1968, during the Russian invasion, a summer that was to crush any dreams of “spring”, Josef Koudelka – a talented young photographer, born in a small town in Moravia, who had worked predominantly in theatre up until that moment – was in Prague. At dawn on 21 August, like everyone else, he was on the streets, with his camera. He got down to work. He took one photograph after another, continuously, simply because he was there, in the city where he lived, the city he knew: “I was faced with something that was greater than me. It was an extraordinary situation, there was simply no time to think, it was my life, my story, my country, my problem”. These photos tell of the tanks invading the streets, the dismay and anger of those who tried to stop the violence, even with their own bodies, the protests, the houses, the tears and desperation. The documents of that tragic summer had to travel underground to America and from there they circled the globe. To protect Koudelka’s identity they were published for years as the work of a “Prague photographer” (Photography by P.P.), nevertheless they became one of the strongest testimonies of the period, indelible evidence, a permanent piece of history. Koudelka managed to leave Czechoslovakia on 20 May 1970.

Koudelka’s images have become symbols of resistance, icons of a tragic event, they have contributed to making Josef Koudelka one of the world’s most admired and esteemed photographers. Now, for the first time, they are being exhibited at Forma: a world premiere. With the collaboration of Magnum Photos, the exhibition is accompanied by a volume edited by Contrasto and published contemporaneously in eight different countries.

Josef Koudelka. Invasion, Prague '68