Ľubomír Badiar

Ľubomír Badiar was born on 12 April 1958 in the countryside of the Tatra foothills in the village of Lučivná in the family of peasants Ján (1931) and Maria (1935), who farmed on their own small farm. The father was a social man. He was involved in the church, he was a churchman, a curate, a member of the Physical Education Union and the fire brigade. Until his retirement he worked in Chemosvit as a labourer. Ľubomír’s grandparents lived modestly, they experienced poverty during the war and post-war years. Grandfather Ján Fabik often recalled the post-war rationing system. Until the end of his life he was afraid that the hard times might return. His grandfather’s ancestors had served with Count Sakmári and received a farm from him in return for their loyalty. During the time of forced collectivization, his grandfather was forced to join a unified peasant cooperative and hand over his entire farm. Although he became accustomed to the cooperative after a while, he carried this grievance with him throughout his life. He was a staunch opponent of communism. Ľubomír spent the first fifteen years of his life in his birthplace under the Tatras as the eldest of three siblings. He had a joyful and carefree childhood. He devoted himself to creating, but also to sports and children’s games outdoors in nature. He started going to primary school in 1964 in his native village, and completed the second grade in Svit. However, the system of teaching at school did not suit him and he did not like going to school. On Sundays he usually went to church, but the liturgy in the cold church was incomprehensible and unintelligible to him. Both school and church visits left him with confused, negative impressions. In 1968, Lubomir was still only 10 years old, but he remembers that people were panic shopping, afraid that war had broken out. Tanks and convoys of cars were passing through the village. Ľubomír started studying at the School of Art Industry in Košice in 1974. It was at the school that he first began to think about freedom. He had teachers who were free to create and were inventive in finding paths. In his senior year, the seniors organized an exhibition of student work with the third-year students, but it lasted only one day. There were also anti-regime works on display and the exhibition became controversial. The State Security Officers (STB) packed up all the works and took them to the attic of the school, and at the same time began to investigate the students who participated in the exhibition. The punishment for the students was negative evaluations, with which it was impossible or very difficult to get into the university. After graduating from high school, Ľubomír applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, where he was not accepted. He asked for a one-year deferment of basic military service and applied to the UMPRUM (University of Arts and Crafts) in Prague. He wanted to become a scenographer, but he was not accepted to this college. He completed his basic military service in Dobřany near Plzeň. After returning from military service he got his first engagement in Košice in the Union of Slovak Visual Artists (ZSVU). In the newly opened gallery, which later became the headquarters of the VPN, he was given the post of art officer in charge of organising exhibitions. It was a very inspiring environment for free-thinking visual artists from eastern Slovakia. For some time, he was involved in the church, where he tried to create a friendly community of people who participate together in various events, share their experiences of bringing up children with each other or provide help to the disadvantaged communities. Zbyněk Prokop, Marcel Strýko, Peter Neuwirth, Peter Bula, Štefan Tomčo, Erik Groch, Peter Kalmus and many others from the ranks of actors and students and representatives of VSŽ (Východoslovenské železiarne), together with Ľubomír, were the founders of the first OF/VPN (Občianske fórum/Verejnost proti násiliu) committee in November 1989. After the revolution, Ľubomír was co-opted as a member of the Municipal National Committee. He participated in the preparation of the first free elections, but did not stand for election himself. A close and natural civic space for Ľubomír was at the local, grassroots level, where, through several years of work and local community building, he gradually worked his way up to charity, which he is still involved in today. He finds this work immensely satisfying and fulfilling. He finds in it his faith, as well as a space for civic engagement. He lives according to his inner compass, which shows him the direction and meaning of life, which is to do good for people who have little or no good in their lives. For him, the ideal of doing good is Christ, who brings good and teaches people to do and live that good. This faith constantly motivates and energizes Lubomir. His credo in life is faith in a good God and striving to become a distributor of that goodness.