Libor Fojtík’s photographic project Tramps documents the purely Czech-Slovak phenomenon of tramping, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. For more than five years, Libor Fojtík has been photographing tramps, the largest and most numerous subculture in the Czech Republic, in various locations in Bohemia and Moravia. The photographic book Tramps was published in 2020 by PositiF and received the award for best documentary book at the 25th International Documentary Film Festival ji.hlava.
Inspired by the Forest Wisdom League, Woodcraft, Scouting and the American Wild West, tramping became a movement that, because of the socio-political conditions in Czechoslovakia at the time, was one of the alternative cultures more or less tolerated by the regime. On the one hand, the term "tramp", inspired by Jack London’s novels, refers to a person who does not respect social conventions and who lives on the margins of society. On the other hand, it is a movement based on friendship, belonging, a romantic vision of nature and a rejection of the petty bourgeoisie and the consumer society. Following the socio-political changes in the former Czechoslovakia, the movement has undergone fundamental changes as well as a renewal, and it is still active in some form today.
Exhibition from 16 September to 30 October 2022 Opening and guided tour in the presence of the author on Saturday 17 September at 5 pm