Two Families of Objects
(first part of the project One Family of Objects, 2007)
14 color photographs, Lambda print, 50 x 40 cm

In 2001, as a present for her 50th birthday, my mother Jiřina Skálová was given the machine tool she had operated at the local factory for 22 years. The company had put the lathe up for sale because it was having difficulties paying off one of its bank loans. Even though the factory had survived the early economic transformation period of the 1990s, at the start of this century it was evidently going into decline. My father decided to secure his and his wife’s future by purchasing the lathe - it is the only tool the two of them can use to earn a decent salary. When I talked to my parents, it transpired that they were by far not the only people who’d bought the means of production they had operated for decades from the company on the verge of insolvency. I asked my mother to take a photograph of her lathe. I then put the same proposition to other former employees who had also opted to purchase their machines, relocating them from the factory floor to the private spaces of their garages and workshops.





photographed by: Jan Boublík, 2007
Jan Boublík had been employed as a grinder at Škoda Klatovy from 1977 until 2005. In 2004, he purchased a multi-functional tool grinder from the factory where he had worked 28 years.





photographed by: Jan Boublík, 2007
Jan Boublík had been employed as a grinder at Škoda Klatovy from 1977 until 2005. In 2004, he purchased a circular saw sharpener from the factory where he had worked for 28 years.





photographed by: Oto Huřťák, 2007
Oto Huřťák had been employed as a locksmith at Škoda Klatovy from the early 1970s until 2005. In 2000, he purchased a table drill from the factory where he had worked for close to 30 years.





photographed by: Štefan Kadlec, 2007
Štefan Kadlec had been employed as a binder at Škoda Klatovy from the early 1990s until 2005. In 2004, he purchased a universal lathe from the factory where he had worked for close to 10 years.





photographed by: Karel Květoň, 2007
Karel Květoň had been employed as a draftsman at Škoda Klatovy from the late 1060s until 2003. In 2005, he purchased a universal lathe from the factory where he had worked for close to 25 years.





photographed by: Karel Květoň, 2007
Karel Květoň had been employed as a draftsman at Škoda Klatovy from the late 1060s until 2003. In 2005, he purchased a stamping press from the factory where he had worked for close to 25 years.





photographed by: Josef Malát, 2007
Josef Malát had been employed as a technician at Škoda Klatovy from the early 1960s until 2003. In 2000, he purchased a universal lathe from the factory where he had worked for close to 40 years.





photographed by: Josef Malát, 2007
Josef Malát had been employed as a technician at Škoda Klatovy from the early 1960s until 2003. In 2000, he purchased a multifunctional tool sharpener from the factory where he had worked for close to 40 years.





photographed by: Jaroslav Skála, 2007
Jaroslav Skála had been employed as a lathe-hand and a metrologist at Škoda Klatovy from 1966 until 2005. In 2001, he purchased a drill press from factory where he had worked for 45 years.





photographed by: Jiří Skála, 2006





photographed by: Jiřina Skálová, 2006
Jiřina Skálová had been employed as a lathe-hand at Škoda Klatovy from 1968 until 2005. In In 2001, she and her husband Jaroslav Skála purchased the universal lathe on which she had worked for 32 years.





photographed by: Jaroslav Stupka, 2007
Jaroslav Stupka had been employed in the logistics section at Škoda Klatovy from the late 1970s until 1992. In 2006, he purchased a universal lathe from the factory where he had worked for close to 15 years.





photographed by: Václav Suda, 2007
Václav Suda had been employed as a locksmith and grinder at Škoda Klatovy from the early 1980s until 2005. In 2005, he purchased a multi-functional tool grinder from the factory where he had worked for close to 25 years.





photographed by: Jaroslav Zítek, 2007
Jaroslav Zítek had been employed as a lathe-hand at Škoda Klatovy from 1943 until 1990. In 1995, he purchased a universal lathe from the factory where he had worked for 47 years.