DRAHOMÍRA WARGOVÁ: My never fading memory of visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland along with a recent trip to Berlin (August 2017), a book from Viktor E. Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) and many other films and literature which I absorbed as I was growing up, gave me the impulse to create the character of Drahomíra Wargová, a female photographer and concentration camp survivor.
Through her self portraits, she attempts to comprehend the darkness of her past, including the loss of her fiancé, and the search for her own meaning in the present and future.
Name: Drahomíra Wargová
Nationality: Czechoslovakia
Date of Birth: 12.12.1923
Age: 23
Status: Single
“I am not afraid of Darkness. Once you have accepted her, there is nothing to be afraid of. You can walk side by side with her and pretend to be friends. You will give her the attention she needs, she will give you the inspiration. But I can not call it a healthy relationship.”
-drahomíra wargová
In the moment of despair
when your tears said goodbye to mine
I felt fire on my chest
while the coldness was eating my breath
I heard that deadly sound in the snow
and I made the vow, do you know?
the vow to be your bride
with joy and pride
Dream about morning dew
doesn’t let me sleep
how far can I go
how fast
how deep
Ghost I see
never whispers
never walks
only looking at me
with understanding
Fresh flowers, I promise
you will always smell
to protect your soul from hell
Everything is passing fast
disappearing
blurring
and I don’t recognize
your face in the crowd anymore
Being a human is such a fragile thing
ephemeral
vulnerable
and yet so beautiful
that it makes you feel miserable
when you’re falling apart
Entering my interior is not an avocation, it’s a necessity
Lying here lonely
makes me remember what I almost forgot
makes me feel the fear again
makes me stay alive
makes me
The gate was open when I arrived
the eyes were watching me
my skin was pulsing
hair dropped on the floor
purity faded in smelly rugs
it was the first time when to be barefoot
didn’t feel free
I saw fear
I saw life breathing heavily
I saw musketeers giving up their swords
I saw the Lady in Black coming towards…
I tried to find you
but suddenly we were all looking the same
there was no difference between woman and man
no difference between dead and alive
and we fought anyway
for all the memories we had in our hearts
The situation takes only a few seconds:
the little human with golden hair
running towards me
hugging me
my languid body awakens
skin is warm, veins are energized
I want to kiss him, protect him, do everything
but he runs away so fast
I couldn’t even touch his golden hair
How many words do you have left
any? none?
words - the strongest weapon
are becoming weaker than our bodies
weaker than our portion of meal
weaker than our blue feet
don’t let them go!
the words are here to say the truth
to save us
one day