Maria Svarbova was born in 1988 and grew up in the small Slovak village, Slepcany. In the early days of her photographic career, Maria focused primarily on portraiture with surrealist themes. She is specifically drawn to the architecture and time of her parents’ youth, and of the communist Czechoslovakia. The visual aspects of this era largely inform her aesthetic.
In 2014, Maria arrived at a swimming pool in her hometown, Zlate Moravce, to shoot a series of swimmers’ portraits. She broke away from traditional portraiture and explored the expressive potential of space, color, and atmosphere. She found herself fascinated by the functionalist architecture of the communist-era pool and reimagined these settings with a contemporary clarity. Beneath their polished surfaces, her images carry a quiet tension, suggesting unseen stories and the possibility of transformation.
Maria’s postmodern vision invites a powerful dialogue, urging viewers to confront solitude and isolation woven into the human condition. Yet, with her delicate washes of pastels, there’s an understated grace, a quiet celebration of life’s simple beauty.
Maria Svarbova has received several prestigious awards, including the Hasselblad Masters Award, and she earned a spot on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. Her work has been placed in both private and public collections worldwide and has been featured in prominent publications such as Vogue, Forbes, CNN, and The Guardian. She has two publications, Swimming Pool (2017) and Future Retro (2019)
