Pavol Breier has been interested in the colorful life surrounding Slovak shepherds’ huts for over forty years.

He began documenting the life of shepherds as a student at FAMU (Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) and he continues to do so even today. This interest resulted in an extensive cycle of images of this significant part of Slovak traditional culture.
At the beginning of the 1970s, he selected the topic he was most interested in - and this exhibition with the title Pastieri (Shepherds) arose from it. It features pictures from the life of shepherds and their helpers.
For Pavol Breier it does not matter whether these people live in remote areas of Slovakia or in Buddhist monasteries in Tibet. Most importantly, they have selected a different approach to life than most. They are more dependent on themselves and left to themselves; they are frequently confronted with social isolation and human loneliness, but they feel no need to keep up with the majority, they have more space for personal independence. Pavol Breier, the documentary photographer – ethnologist, convincingly demonstrates that the same or similar life orientation leads to similar means of living and comparable cultural expressions. Life programs and philosophy are more important than local traditions and ethnic boundaries.

Aurel Hrabušický