The project is based on the poem “Máj” – May – by the Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha. The story it narrates took place in the 1770s, that is, sixty years prior to Mácha’s poetic interpretation thereof. Mácha masterfully described a landscape abounding with water bodies, hidden rocks, the sun and the moon, colours, and overflowing love and grief.

The individual shots were taken in Mácha’s region near Mácha’s Lake, Zahrádky near Česká Lípa and in the Bohemian Paradise (Český Ráj). The core of the project originated between March 27^th  and May 18^th, 2016. Subsequently, I added the shots taken near the Nové Mlýny reservoir which took form in the same time frame and were thematically aimed for the project. The collection was awarded third place in Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2016, received the committee’s recognition in Los Angeles (2016 – IPA, International Photography Awards) and at the Luxembourg Art Price (2016). The project “Mácha Contemplations” was also published on the website of the prestigious British magazine On Landscape, and a selection was also published in print in “Visions 2016”, a yearbook by 1X.com –  a gallery curator website. 

The project was fist exhibited in the Gallery of Art Critics (Galerie Kritiků) in Prague on Jan 6 – 20, 2017.