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Rifo Dobra (born 14 April 1952) is an
In 1991, Dobra founded the first commercial photographic gallery in Czechoslovakia, which organized or participated in several exhibitions during the 1990s. Some of them were beneficially oriented, for example the 1999 exhibition, which raised funds for the displaced refugees of the 
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
photographer from Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
.
Early life and education
Dobra was born inPristina
Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district.
In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...
, and after finishing secondary school he moved to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
(today's Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
), where he was employed as a camera assistant in the Czechoslovak Television
Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953.
H ...
in Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. From 1972, he was studying camera the Prague Film and TV Academy (FAMU), which he successfully finished in 1978.
Career
Dobra's first attempts at photography began when he was 15. The first publication of his photos in theYugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
n press were followed by a participation in many national exhibitions. Besides advertisement and creations of covers and calendars, Dobra inclined more and more towards artistic photography
Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...
, which gradually became his main focus. The gold medal in the national competition and silver one in an international one were followed by his first personal exhibition in Pristina, in 1977, and several other exhibitions in Czechoslovakia (Prague), Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
, Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
), and other European countries.
In 1991, Dobra founded the first commercial photographic gallery in Czechoslovakia, which organized or participated in several exhibitions during the 1990s. Some of them were beneficially oriented, for example the 1999 exhibition, which raised funds for the displaced refugees of the Kosovo war
The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
, or the 2000 exhibition raising funds for the victims of breast cancer in the Czech Republic.
Works
Dobra creates almost exclusively hand-colouredblack-and-white photographs
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of :wikt:achromatic, achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with b ...
, where the hand colouring plays a specific role as a means of expression. Dobra's works are often still life
A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
s, featuring abstract themes of life (egg), contrasting elements (slice of a watermelon pressed into the carrier of an old bicycle) and surreal compositions, sometimes distantly inspired by works of classical surrealist painters such as René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...
. Dobra's photography is closely tied to the poetics of melancholy, often exhibited by using an old, rotten wall with a falling, mouldy plaster as a background, or other worn down items (not rarely in contrast to things colourful, new and fragile).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobra, Rifo 1952 births Living people Artists from Pristina Albanian photographers Albanian artists Czech photographers Kosovan people of Albanian descent