Artist Info
Jevan Berrangé
Dr Jevan Pierres Berrangé, 1931-2018, was an explorer-scientist. He was a Long Serving Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
In 1968 while attending the International Geological Congress (IGC) in Prague, Jevan stepped out of his hotel to find himself facing two tanks with soldiers on top of them. The Russians had invaded and the ‘Prague Spring’ and IGC both came to an abrupt end. He dashed back to his hotel room to fetch his camera and then spent the next 24 hours prowling the streets taking photographs of the Soviet occupation of Prague. The following day, having run out of film Jevan left Prague and travelled back to the UK independently. On the first leg to Vienna, Russian troops boarded the train to examine passengers' luggage, but they did not find the rolls of film hidden by Jevan in his umbrella. Back in London he sold the photographs to Camera Press and they were subsequently printed in national newspapers around the world and in Time magazine.