Czech Press Photo – Art and Culture Category 2016–2021

The special traveling exhibition Unbroken, part of the artistic project We and the World, showcased the work of both established and emerging Ukrainian artists. The destruction that hit villages on the border of the Břeclav and Hodonín regions at the end of June 2021 was powerfully captured in the winning photograph by Petr Topič, who arrived on site just hours after the catastrophe. The exhibition also featured striking images by other acclaimed photojournalists whose work combines strong reportage and artistic value, including Lukáš Bíba, Jan Cága, Barbora Reichová, Roman Vondrouš, and Dan Materna. An international jury selected the most compelling images from over 4,300 submissions by 250 photographers. In total, 55 printed photographs were on display at Artium, with an additional 18 images exhibited in the Bořislavka shopping gallery.
Alongside the photographs, the exhibition included two large-format screens. One displayed a looping slideshow of 130 images representing all competition categories from 2021. The second screen presented video footage and photographs from the Bažantnice Lives! project, an initiative by the Karel Komárek Family Foundation (KKFF), aimed at revitalizing the suburban forest area of Bažantnice, which had also been severely damaged by the tornado.
Curators of the exhibition: David Materna a Radka Humlouvá