Five questions for Jan Hachran
1. Could you introduce yourself as a personality and artist?
I'm starting a little classical - my name is Jan Hachran, I come from Ústà nad Labem, I am 23 years old and I am a student of medicine. In addition I also devote myself to artistic creation, in which I try to return to a certain adornment and decorativeness, which I want to associate with mysticism, symbolism, history and traditions.
2. Do you have any idol in your life or in your work?
Personally, I was always an individualist, who was looking for his own way rather than idols to follow, yet there are several personalities that inspire me very much. First of all they are my parents, whom I very much appreciate. Another such person is probably Alfons Mucha, the world-famous artist, who was able to combine decorativeness and mysticism and to bring slavic folklore, tradition and history to the world public.
3. What will be your role in the project Slavs in pictures and poetry and why did you decide to join it?
I can say, that I am essentially the spiritual father, who came up with this idea and gained for it the others. As part of the project I will be the author of most of texts and illustrations, that appear in the book. I will write a framework story, that links the individual parts into one unit and I will create an illustration of every slavic nation, in which will be captured its aggregate essence. I found it important to know our roots and to continue the legacy of our ancestors. I think, the summary artistic, literary and poetic work is the best carrier of such an idea towards the public.
4. What do they mean for you or how do you generally perceive terms such as slavicity, pride, tradition, identity?
If I'm honest, today's time is strange in many things. It means, that the above-mentioned values, which have been in past positively perceived, in the context of today's period are perceived by many people as negative, just only as unnecessary delimitation towards someone else. The reasons, why in present it is different from before, are unnecessary to discussing now, but in general, there are many people like me, who think otherwise and keep the respect for these basic values. We believe, it is in essence an expression of love for the place, where we were born, and of respect for the people on whose shoulders we stand. We can play strange role on the cultural revolutionaries and sweep away this heritage and laugh at it, but by this action we just unwisely cut the roots that nourish the tree of our civilization.
5. Are you preparing any exhibitions in the near future?
I am an artist, who tries to exhibit as much as possible, so every month I usually have several exhibitions in different places of our Homeland. Of course everyone is warmly invited. I do not want to burden the reader with a list of events now, so I recommend watching my web and social media sites, where you can find plenty of information about upcoming events.
