The Bystander

​2018 - 2019

 

​Book

Unique Exemplary

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I had visited Pilsen, Czech Republic—my father’s hometown—when I was six months, three and nine years old. I didn’t know Pilsen, or Czech Republic for that matter, and it was fine by me.

 

However, during my forty days in Pilsen and Prague in the summer of 2018, I documented my visit from beginning to end. It was something I had planned to do prior to my visit. My father’s friends, portrayed in my book, all have taken very different paths from the summer of 1968. Some stayed in Czechoslovakia, some left for good, others returned after democratisation.

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I wrote daily, no matter how trivial the content. Upon my return, I edited and hand-binded my writings, along with photographs.

 

The Bystander is a frozen moment in time. When I read the book again, my summer of 2018 is all there.

 

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