PROJECT KARTOON

Year: 2024
Medium & Technique: Studio photography with recycled cardboard constructions / No digital post-production
Artists: Michal Zahornacký & Aneta Hrenák
Exhibition: FOTOGRÁFICA BOGOTÁ, Centro Nacional de las Artes (CNA), Bogotá (upcoming, 2025)

KARTOON is a collaborative project by photographer Michal Zahornacký and visual artist Aneta Hrenák.
It transforms ordinary materials and the human body into unexpected visual compositions—merging photography, sculpture, and graphic abstraction.

At the center of the project is a simple, often overlooked material: cardboard.
Originally intended for disposal, it is repurposed here into custom-built sculptural forms that conceal, flatten, and reshape the human figure.
Set against a large white illuminated wall, these constructions generate optical illusions that blur the line between physical reality and visual fiction.

There is no digital manipulation.
Everything is created manually, on site, in front of the camera.
The resulting images feel graphic, surreal, almost illustrated—but they are photographs of real moments, captured precisely as they were built.

KARTOON is not only a formal experiment.
It is also a playful exploration of how identity, presence, and expression can be communicated through unexpected means.
By reducing the body to shape and line, the project invites viewers to reimagine what a portrait can be—and how far photography can go while remaining completely analog.