MARTIN BECKA

Martin Becka photographic vision focuses on urban spaces, landscapes, and also recording the traces and impact left by mankind. Working with large format cameras and utilizing antique photographic processes which date back to the invention of photography, Becka interrogates how we use these urban spaces and raises questions in the viewer about how urbanization impacts the future of civilization. Becka’s photographs have been exhibited regularly both in solo and group exhibitions since 1995. 

  • All
  • Dubai Transmutations
  • Oman
  • Territoire

Martin Becka began his work as a photojournalist in the mid 1980s and began crafting his distinct image making practice  and applying it to the study of architecture, urban and peri-urban spaces and landscapes.  In his practice he uses unique antique photographic processes, which date back to the invention of photography.

His images question the human traces on our landscape and bring a deeper understanding to the beauty and effect of man-made spaces on the environment. His photographs are most often made with a large format view camera (40×50 or 20×25 cm) using a waxed paper negative process, which he makes himself following the methods of Gustave Le Gray (1851). Exposure times range from a few minutes to much longer.

Martin Becka holds a Masters in History of Technology (CNAM-CDHT). He regularly engages with the Institut National du Patrimoine to teach the processes relating to paper negatives and the processes with iron salts. He also works at the FAMU (Faculty of Cinema and Television, photography department) in Prague.

Martin Becka is originally from the Czech Republic and presently lives and works in Touraine, France.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)

2022
Territoires Multiples, Promenades Photographiques, Vendôme, France

2021
Sur les terres de l’Oise Picarde, Musée Archéologique de l’Oise, Vendeuil-Caply, France

2019
Territoires, Musée Archéologique de l’Oise, Vendeuil Caply, France

2018
Chaos, Rencontre Photographie en Gaspésie, Carleton-sur-mer, Canada
Territoire, Galerie Regard Sud, Lyon, France
Territoire, Galerie Elie Veyssière, Tours, France

2017
Territoire, Voies Off Festival, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France

2016
L’expérience du Temps, La Chambre Claire, Paris, France

2015
Territoire, Swiss Camera Museum, Vevey, Switzerland
Dubai Tranmutations, Swiss Camera Museum, Vevey, Switzerland

2013 
Visuel Urbain, Ecole Nationale Superieure d’architecture, Nantes, France
Dubai Transmutations, Rencontres Internationales de Photographie, Arles, France

2010
Dubai Transmutations, Festival International de Photographie Clermont-Ferrand, France

2009
Dubai Transmutations,The Empty Quarter gallery, Dubai, U.A.E

2007
Sur les Pas de Victor Regnault, Abbaye de Baume Les Messierus, France

2002
Les Procédés de Gustave Le Gray, Galerie La Photographie de Collection, Paris, France

1998
No Man’s II, Espace Photographie, Paris France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)

2023
Abstraction, galerie Parallax, Aix en Provence, France

2019
Les Lignes, Galerie Parallax, Aix en Provence, France

2017
Paysage Français, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
Artistes Contemporains et Procédés Anciens,  Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris, France

2016
La Mémoire de Futur, Musée de L’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Émoi Photographique, Festival l’Émoi Photographique, Angoulême, France

2015
Les Photaumnales, Galerie Nationale de la Tapisserie, Beauvais, France

2014
Nuit de la Photo, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

2013
Dubai Next, l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Zaha Hadid’s Mobile Art Pavillon, Paris, France

2012
Ensemble, Crossroad Gallery, Tokyo Japan

2011
Paris Photo, The Empty Qarter Gallery, Paris France
Metropolis 2.0, The Empty Qarter, Gallery Dubai, UAE
Éclats de Photographie, Musée Adrien Mentienne, Bry -sur-Marne, France
Empreintes de Lumière, Abbaye de Baume-les-Messieurs, France

2010
Paris Photo, The Empty Quarter, Paris, France
Dubai Portfolio, Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2009
Paris Photo, Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France

2008
Beyond the Iconic, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, California USA

(For complete list of group exhibitions, please check the artist’s website)