Gabriela Bulišová and Mark Isaac are artists and multimedia storytellers who collaborate on intimate projects designed to bridge the gap between fine art and documentary practices. Their long-term projects, which often include photography, video, writing, music and installation, emphasize the importance of socially conscious issues such as the environment, mass incarceration, refugees, memory, diversity, and borderlands.
Recently, under the auspices of a Fulbright Scholar Grant, the pair created a complex multimedia project in Siberia about the ecological health of Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest, deepest, and most voluminous lake. Their in-depth personal project on Chl’aba, a small Slovak village on the border with Hungary that is experiencing profound change, has been ongoing for more than twelve years.
The duo both received an MFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. Bulišová’s numerous awards include the Fulbright Scholar Grant, the National Press Photographers Association’s Short Grant, the Sondheim Prize, and Open Society Institute’s Moving Walls. She taught photojournalism at the Corcoran College of Art and Design at George Washington University. Isaac recently received a Fulbright Grant in Russia and has previously been awarded one in Ukraine. He was also a semifinalist for the Sondheim Prize and was named a promising photographer by FotoDC. Their diverse projects have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Finland, Slovakia, and Korea.
Some of their recent exhibitions include: The Triennial for the Backlight Exhibition, Culture House Laikku, Tampere, Finland (2020), Baikal Lenses, Bronshteyn Gallery, Irkutsk, Russia (2019); God’s River, documentary film screening (2018-present); Where the Rivers Come Together, Black Sea National University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine (2018) and 12 cities in Ukraine (2019); and Prisons in the Age of Mass Incarceration, Eastern State Penitentiary Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2016-present). Their work has also been published by The Daily Beast, Politico.eu , Smithsonian Magazine; National Geographic Proof, and Narratively.
