The exhibition Where’s the Afters? offers only a glimpse into a large series of protest photographs taken by Nik Erik Neubauer between May 2020 and April 2022. During this time, the world entered a previously unknown state of uncertainty, fear and widespread confusion with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. With growing unease, conflicting information and some questionable policy measures, public frustration flared up and sparked a wave of protests across the country. These initially popped up rather spontaneously, but eventually grew into an organised weekly civic initiative – mostly taking place on Fridays – drawing attention to pressing social issues and controversial political practices. In parallel, several protests were organised by other social groups, raising different issues and criticisms of the situation (such as the anti-RVT [Recovered – Vaccinated – Tested] protests).
The series of protest photographs by Nik Erik Neubauer also started spontaneously, but then, in light of the increasingly thematic structuring of the protests, grew into an extensive collection of images that today not only represent a systematic archive of what happened in those days, but also a self-contained approach to the genre of reportage-documentary photography. Moreover, it is protest photography that often plays a key role in shaping the collective narrative of a specific protest movement. This is why, in certain cases, such photography moves from recording to commentary and interpretation by the person behind the lens.
A short biography
Nik Erik Neubauer (1994) graduated in photography from VIST – Department of Photography (2017) and received his MA from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (2021). He has drawn attention to himself with several exhibition projects, photo zines and a photo book You always cry twice when you go to the South. Since 2022, he has been a photographer for the newspaper Dnevnik. In 2021 he was nominated for the Leica Oscar Barnack Newcomer Award and was named one of Europe’s most promising photographers by GUP Magazine’s Fresh Eyes. In 2021, he received the Watchdog Award for outstanding achievement in journalistic photography from the Slovenian Association of Journalists. In 2022, he was one of the winners of the Belfast Photo Festival, one of the most important festivals for contemporary photography.
The exhibition was prepared by the National Museum of Contemporary History, on the Museum’s behalf: mag. Nataša Robežnik, Acting Director
Curator of the exhibition: Tina Fortič Jakopič
Author of the photographs: Nik Erik Neubauer
The exhibition was made possible by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia