Ante Škrobonja has been working in photography for 60 years and it is very noticeable. In 2020, he earnt the honorary title of Doyen of Rijeka Photography. He was the first person from Rijeka to obtain the honorary title of Master of Photography in the Photo Association of Yugoslavia. He is also the first Rijeka photographer to be awarded the highest Croatian photographic award, the Tošo Dabac Plaque.
It all started in 1961 when he was attracted to a gathering of school peers who founded the rock group Uragani. By photographing the Uragani’s ten-year work, he became an associate member. Following the Rijeka rock scene at the same time, he documented all its important participants from 1961 to 1971, thereby becoming a master of local rock photography. And more than that, he became the first name of rock photography in the entire area of the former socialist part of Europe, and in this way, he grew to be an important European name in this genre.
With the exhibition of new “rock photos”, Škrobonja returns to his first thematic love. It is a collection of 70 photographs taken from 2015 to 2020 at the performances of the bands of the LP Rock Association. The photographs have not only artistic value, they are also a document about the work of a generational group of enthusiasts who marked the life of the city at a stage in life when this was not expected of them. It is also evidence for the thesis that Rijeka was not only the cradle but also the other capital of Croatian rock culture. Like the collection “S Uraganima 1961-1970”, Škrobonja’s new collection will also be donated to the City Museum of Rijeka.
The exhibition runs from 21st December 2021 to 11th January 2022.