After Litomyšl and Litoměřice, the successful Drops on Stone exhibition will move again. In autumn this year, we will open it to visitors of the Goethe Institute in Prague. The exhibition is based on the book of the same name, published in 2019 by a group of Czech and Slovak women writers.
The book Drops on Stone was unlucky. It came out during the pandemic and found its way to its readers rather difficult. Still, it is worth paying attention to, both in terms of content and visuals. In terms of content, it is a follow-up to the very popular and translated into many languages book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and brings the stories of 50 real female characters from Czech and Slovak history and the present day. It introduces the reader to the fates of women who were not afraid to stand up to totalitarianism, women who, despite adverse conditions, excelled in professions that until then belonged only to men, or women who cared for others and were not afraid to speak up.
In addition to the unusual and in many ways inspiring life stories, Drops on the Stone also stands out for its visual accompaniment, as very distinctive illustrations were created for each woman’s story. Twenty-six illustrators from the Czech Republic and Slovakia are their authors. Each of them worked in a different style, and therefore the book can also be seen as a showcase of diverse illustrative techniques – purely analogue illustrations, drawn in watercolour and ink on paper; digital illustration, characterised by restrained colour and subtle textures, or, conversely, by oversized blocks of saturated colour; and finally, a symbiosis of both, since even today many illustrators build their digital graphics on the artisanal foundations of drawing done in ordinary pencil.
The main aim of the exhibition of the same name in the city gallery was to bring the above-mentioned diverse overview of illustrative techniques into the exhibition space. An interesting moment in the exhibition was the linking of text and image, so that the visitor could get to know the way the illustrator herself works. The illustrations of Drops on Stone are intended for young readers and therefore choose a very specific, playful, colourful and novel form. They tell stories, much like the text they illustrate, assign attributes, portray selected personalities, and introduce viewers to the times in which they lived or the challenges they faced while remaining intimate works of art.
Illustrators of the book Drops on Stone
Pavla Baštanová, Barbora Idesová, Jana Farmanová, Magdaléna Gurská, Han Donau, Aneta Františka Holasová, Margarita Khavanski, Veronika Klímová, Kateřina Kynclová, Nikola Logosová, Michaela Mihalyi, Jana Nachlingerová, Taja Spasskova, Ivana Šáteková, Monika Pascoe Mikyšková, Ilona Polanski, Alica Raticová, Tereza Říčanová, Broňa Schragge, Dagmar Skokanová Tragorová, Petra Waldauf Slabá, Marie Štumpfová, Andrea Tachezy, Bianka Török, Veronika Vlková, Lucia Žatkuliaková
Writers of Drops on Stone
Monika Kompaníková, Kamila Musilová, Gabriela Futová, Lucie Jarkovská, Monika Kapráliková, Hana Krutílková, Klára Kubíčková, Veronika Šikulová, Zuzana Štelbaská
