“Faces of Century” is a photo series by Jan Langer, an artist and photographer from the Czech Republic. Born in Opavia and currently based in Prague, the photographer adds:
“Photographs show portraits of one hundred years old Czechs. Nowadays, there are over 12,000. In fifty years their number will reach 14,000. How these people see their life after such a period? The majority of those I approached agree that with advancing age life is faster; until, at last, the life will pass in a moment. Time is shrinking, as are the faces of the elders. I wondered what changes and what remains on a human face and in a human mind in such a long time, and in such a short while in relative terms. I wondered how much loneliness of the old age weighs, and what memories stay in 100-year-old mind.
This set of comparative photos (of archive portraits from the family album and contemporary portraits from the present time) explores the similarities and the differences in appearance and in physiognomy. The characteristics of personality change throughout life but it seems as if individual nature remains rooted in the abyss of time.
The pairs of photographs are accompanied by brief facts of each person such as former occpuatoins, current hobbies and place of residence etc. You can read each blurb on Langer’s website.
[via My Modern Met]
1. Prokop Vejdělek
left 22 years old (oath of enlistment), right 101 years old
2. Ludvík Chybík
left 20 years old (skilled confectioner), right 102 years old
3. Bedřiška Köhlerová
left 26 years old (wedding), right 103 years old
4. Vincenc Jetelina
left 30 years old (finished his house), right 105 years old
5. Antonín Kovář
left 25 years old (bandmaster of his own band), right 102 years old
6. Anna Vašinová
left 22 years old (after wedding), right 102 years old
7. Stanislav Spáčil
left 17 years old (skilled electrician), right 102 years old
8. Anna Pochobradská
left around 30 years old, right 100 years old
9. Antonín Baldrman
left 17 years old (skilled locksmith), right 101 years old
10. Marie Burešová
left 23 years old (wedding), right 101 years old
11. Vlasta Čížková
left 23 years old (finished girl high school), right 101 years old
12. Ludmila Vysloužilová
left 23 years old let (gift for her fiancé), right 101 years old
