Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Closes July 18
When photographer Josef Koudelka took to the streets of Prague in August 1968, he captured a monumental moment as the so-called Prague Spring of Czechoslovakia's rising democracy was being crushed in an event that would affect the political freedom in the Soviet Union and its satellite states for the next 20 years. Fearing the further erosion of its power as well as greater political plurality and liberal thinking in Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union chose to take the nation by force. In hindsight, invasion seemed inevitable, but at the time it was an unprecedented act of force that rampaged through Prague and left citizens confused and desperate. More than 100 people were killed and at least 400 were seriously injured.
Koudelka was new to professional photography then, and it was his first attempt at documenting hard news; yet during the chaotic and turbulent week-long ordeal, he managed to produce astonishingly composed shots, one after another. He went beyond the call of duty, fearlessly climbing aboard Soviet tanks and pushing his lens upclose to the faces of soldiers and angry, violent protesters.
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