Markéta Othová

Czech photographer Markéta Othová is known for her simple yet deeply conceptual black and white photography that communicates a sense of the temporary and looks to challenge the visual world itself. Often her photography seems snapshot like, only relieving a glimpse of a moment in a given time and space. Early works were more narrative and attempted to tell a story using simple step by step imagery. One such work (no pictures found) included two images: a fallen ceiling tile laying broken on the floor and the other a shot of the roof with a tile missing. Through this short narration we are forced to assume the act that took place and accept her story when really all we really receive is the surface of reality.

In her untitled flower series she photographs the same flowers in front of both dark and light backgrounds giving the illusion that the flowers are lightly colored in the first shot and darker in the second. In this she challenges the very nature of photography and how objects can be easily skewed and misinterpreted.

Untitled, 2008; 2 gelatine silver prints each 100 x 70 cm; edition of 10

Othová's other series documents her travels from that of her native Prague to cities all around the world. The images are taken from cars, trains and simply from walking around on foot. She shows fleeting moments, events that are there at one point and gone the next. Through her use of multiple images per piece she shows the slight changes that can occur over a very small period of time or a minor change in position. Children in a yard or even something as simple as a pile of dirt can never be fully understood for only one angle at one moment.

Utopia, 2000; 9 black and whit photographs; each 110 x 160 cm; edition of 5

Ghosts, 2005; 4 b/w photographs; each 110 x 160 cm; edition of 5