Raised in Ostrava, Viktor Kolář fled Czechoslovakia in 1968 and immigrated to Canada. The son of a photo-store owner, Kolář began to photograph his new surroundings in British Columbia with his father's old Leica camera. He made his way to Toronto, but his artistic drive eventually led him to Montreal before returning home under amnesty. Our exhibit is comprised of photographs taken across Canada, and offers the viewer an impassioned eye on Canadian life. Kolář's austere compositions evoke a time of modernization against a backdrop of traditional life, and captures details that, at the time, only an outsider would see as profound.Canada