Чачак у доба социјализма: (1944–1990): фотографија као репрезент политичке моћи

English title: Čačak in the Era of Socialism (1944–1990): Photography as a Representation of Political Power

The exhibition catalogue Čačak in the Era of Socialism (1944–1990): Photography as a Representation of Political Power analyzes photography as one of the key media of political representation in socialist Yugoslavia, using the town of Čačak as a case study between 1944 and 1990.

Grounded in the concepts of symbolic power, visual culture, and political representation, the catalogue examines how official photography functioned as an instrument of ideological communication, legitimacy-building, and social discipline. Photography is treated not primarily as an aesthetic object, but as a historical source that reveals how socialist power shaped the public image of society, space, labour, ceremony, and political authority.

The research draws on museum collections, archival photo albums, unpublished negatives, and private collections. Particular attention is given to mass spectacles, public rituals, urban reconstruction, socialist modernization, and ceremonial receptions of political leaders.

The catalogue shows that photographs from the socialist period were not neutral visual records, but carefully selected and staged representations of power. They produced an official image of society while marginalizing everyday realities, social contradictions, and experiences that did not fit the ideological model of progress.

Through the local example of Čačak, the catalogue contributes to the understanding of broader structures of power, representation, visual propaganda, and public memory in socialist Yugoslavia and Southeast Europe.