For more than 30 years the now 81-year-old Czech artist Miroslav Tichý has taken photographs almost exclusively of people in his hometown of Kyjov in Southern Moravia. His self-built cameras, telephoto lenses and selfconstructed developing facilities have produced mostly blurred, mysteriously lit black and white pictures of bathing women, the shop assistant next door, children playing at school and girls dancing, which are often altered in hindsight with pencils and scissors. Frequently he has dramatized particular photos by adding self-painted frames.
“Taking photographs is painting with light” and “You have to do something badly in order for it to be noticed” are two of Miroslav Tichý’s statements, which encapsulate his artistic standpoint. He went long unnoticed by the art world, and he himself avoided almost any contact with the outside world. Hence a totally self-sustaining artist has created an insulated oeuvre full of beauty and poetry.