Frankfurt to Display Georgian Photography

Frankfurt, Germany will be introducing photography enthusiasts to Guram Tikanadze, a Soviet-era photographer who became the first Georgian photographer known to the world across the Iron Curtain.

A personal display of the artist and mountaineer will be held at the Ausstellungshalle venue. Remembered as a major figure in the development of the photographic scene in Georgia, and as difficult as it was for people from the region in this field, he received a bronze medal at the 1959 World Festival of Students and Youth in Vienna, gaining the first international award for Georgian photography.

Born in 1932, Tikanadze studied Geography and Geology at the Tbilisi State University; he had an interest in photography early on, and took classes at the capital city’s Young Pioneers Palace. When his works were exhibited in 2015, it was noted how it coincided with the so-called Khrushchev Thaw period, a period when photographers intentionally ignored the rules of staged photography.

The young Georgian is also remembered in the field of mountaineering, with a peak in the Caucasus named after him. The  Guram Tikanadze Culture and Sports Center was also opened in the village of Latali in Georgia’s highland Svaneti province in 1981 and named after him. He died descending the famed Shkhara peak in 1963.

Organized by Kolga Tbilisi Photo Week and the Frankfurt venue, Tikanadze’s photography will be presented at the Ausstellungshalle from October 11 to November 4.

By Shawn Wayne