Keen & Daring are the writings, photography, drawings, exhibitions and special projects of Suzanne Alicia Walsh.
Poetry / Essays / Photography / Drawings / Exhibitions / Design / Sustainability
On Art & Bravery
I grew up not fully understanding the heroism of those closest to me. The truth would come in delicate pieces, floating down into my consciousness like pieces of ash, fires set to protect the present by erasing the past. In 2016, my grandfather passed away suddenly from pneumonia in a hospital in Prague leaving behind a tangled network of unanswered questions as vast as his formidable mind. As a young person he was forced to flee his home city of Prague, immigrating first to allied-controlled Germany in the wake of WWII, then to America, then back to Europe where he would spend the rest of his life building bridges between Czech people living abroad and those living within the Czech Republic.
His life’s work was only fully known to me after he passed away when I discovered an overwhelming collection of photographs, souvenirs and personal letters which I painstakingly sorted and translated from Czech to English. The process of reacquainting myself with my favorite person after he was gone from me forever, changed my life and my creative process.
This site not only contains the work that I create on a daily basis but also serves as a platform through which I can celebrate the profound talents of my grandfather and other family members which I have begun to painstakingly record.
Dedicated to Oldrich Cerny, Alicia Cerny & Sheila Walsh
_