Markéta Luskacová

Markéta Luskačová is a Czech-born photographer who spent much of her life living and working in the UK. Frequently drawn to people who are marginalised, she is particularly famous for her documentation of life in remote Slovakian villages and the East End markets of London. She is considered by many to be one of the best social photographers of her age. Luskačová grew up in Czechoslovakia in the era of Communist Party rule. She studied Sociology at Charles University, graduating in 1967 with a thesis entitled Pilgrimages in Slovakia. She then went on to study photography at FAMU Film and Television school in Prague.

One of the first places Luskačová visited when she fled the Communist regime of Prague, was Ireland. She recalls the kindness of the people she met on her first visit that inspired her to make a number of journeys back to the country throughout her career, even living in Belfast for a period of time in the late 1980s to work on a project with Channel 4.

Themes prevalent in her oeuvre include childhood, religion, music, and community.

From a young age photography has been Luskačová’s passion and through perseverance and determination she has been able to make a living as a photographer for over half a century. There were periods that lasted a number of years where she didn’t make a single sale due to various circumstances from cancelled exhibitions to Magnum Photos discontinuing their relationship with her after a few short years, and yet she kept going and managed to establish herself as a prominent figure in 20th century and contemporary photography who has works in a myriad of collections from Tate Britain to the J. Paul Getty Museum, California. Today, Luskačová is based in London and at 77 years old she continues to travel to Prague every year to photograph the Czech Carnival (Masopust).