These pictures are part of an ongoing series of group portraits by the collaborative duo, Jon Tonks (UK) and Roman Franc (Czech Republic). Their portraiture documents civic life in their hometowns and in communities further afield. Both artists have participated in past exhibitions in Bloomington where they came to love the city and its special character. Bloomington is to be the first city in America to be featured in the project.

The photographs on the wall were made during an intensive seven-week visit and were brought to life with a good dose of friendly local help. And though they capture a variety of the town’s dimensions and its treasures, it’s only a slice of the rich cultural life in this city.

In a time where group identity is used to polarize and situate people against one another, group portraits can be a force in the opposite direction, celebrating unity and camaraderie. The photographs offer a unique moment, where the act of coming together is preserved in a timelessly fascinating image.

learn more: groupscollective.com

Roman Franc (*1983) embarked on his career as a photographer at a time when the world, rocked by social-political and technological change, was looking for some level of certainty. The context of this reality, where the urgent need for change straddled the gap between what was coming to an end and the new forms of the future, enable us to read the recent history of most fields of human activity. Roman Franc came out of the tradition of Brno photography, which has never been too eager to follow trends, and shows the world that working with tradition can be as interesting and rewarding as trying to deny it. Although Franc’s work has long since gone beyond the habits of his early years, he still believes that photography takes on a deeper meaning only through practice, when the photographer keeps improving his skills.

For much of its history, photography has been regarded as a mirror of the outside world. This idea, however, has a weak point – it seeks reality while neglecting the obvious fact that photography not only reflects the world, but is also part of it, giving it the potential to shape it. Group photographs taken by Roman Franc are remarkable in that they reflect this elementary dialectic. One could even say that the dialectic directly influences them. In this respect, the artist’s photography reminds us of the times when photographers used to travel to their customers and when the pressing of the shutter was the culmination of an event preceded by a series of small private rituals that enabled everyone involved to realize who they were and where they belonged. In the era of digital technology and social media, we miss this desirable and deeply human moment. In a way, this can be seen in the growing interest in Franc’s photographs, which are primarily an opportunity to affirm the common identity of those gathered in front of the lens, and in his prints in galleries intended for people from the outside.

www.romanfranc.cz

Jon Tonks (*1981) is a British photographer best known for his compelling visual storytelling of remote, overlooked communities. Jon’s career took a defining turn during a trip to Ascension Island, which led to his acclaimed book Empire, an exploration of life on four British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic, a project that cemented his reputation as a photographer capturing the impact of history and geography on human lives. The book, praised by Martin Parr as one of the best of the year, earned him the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society in 2014.

Originally from the West Midlands, Jon studied design before transitioning to photography, first as a newspaper photographer and later pursuing a Master’s in Photojournalism at the London College of Communication. His work has been featured in leading publications like The New York Times, Le Monde, National Geographic (CN), The Guardian and The Sunday Times Magazine.

Jon has been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize and the Terry O’Neill Award multiple times. His photography is held in prestigious collections, including those of Stanford University, California, the Martin Parr Foundation (UK) and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Texas.

jontonks.com