Irena Blühová

Irena Blühová was one of the first women Slovak photographers and one of the first photographers in Czechoslovakia to use photography as a means of documentary study and social commentary. During World War II she was a communist dissident, working in the underground to disseminate literature and help refugees fleeing persecution. After the war, she helped establish the State Pedagogical Institute and founded the Slovak Pedagogic Library. Late in life she returned to the pursuit of photography and participated in many international exhibitions.