In honor of Paris Photo 2023 SmithDavidson Gallery will present the online viewing room with the project ‘The Passage’ by Italian photographer Francesco Bosso and vintage works by Miroslav Tichy. SmithDavidson Gallery will join Paris Photo this year digitally.
The Passage is an iconographic representation by Italian photographer Francesco Bosso that narrates the indelible traces of the passage of ancient civilizations, the cradle of our roots. Through the pictorial use of black and white tones with infinite shades of gray, the scenes become evocative of ancient atmospheres. This project is the result of many years of work, and brings together a body of works that refer to an extensive meditation on the passage of time and on the history of the earth and the civilizations that have inhabited it. Testimony of the passage of time, also through the destruction and loss that occurred over the centuries due to man or the catastrophic events that cyclically modify the Earth. A vast photographic project of international scope that includes important archaeological sites in the world, from Rome, to Paestum, the Valley of the Temples, Jordan, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Cambodia, Myanmar and others, testifying to the passage of important civilizations.
Miroslav Tichý aspired to traditional photographic values, composition and contrast, yet imperfections were an important part of his work. ‘The flaws are part of it,’ Tichý said. ‘That’s the poetry. To achieve that, first of all you need a bad camera.’ He built his contraptions from scrap — cardboard tubes, tin cans and the like — sealed with tar, and operated by bobbins and dressmaker’s elastic. He cut lenses from plexiglass — even devising his own telephoto lens. Negatives were blemished by dust in the camera or stained by processing errors. After printing, Tichý cut off unwanted sections to improve the composition, drew lines to emphasise contours, decorated margins and mounted favourite images on cardboard.
Though diverse in their practice, both Bosso and Tichý build on the foundations of the photographic medium. Tichý obviously through his ability to create cameras from scraps and using cuttings of photographic paper. On the other end of the spectrum Francesco Bosso meticulously creates a perfect image working in the tradition of Ansel Adams.
