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Biography

Michael Flicek began the serious pursuit of fine art photography in 2005. Since then his work has received numerous awards in competitions, including The International Photography Awards, PX3 Prix De La Photographie Paris, the Black and White Spider Awards, and COLOR Magazine portfolio contest. Work associated with his book China Life 2008 was in the ONWARD ’09 exhibition at Project Basho Gallery in Philadelphia, PA; the Encore! More of the Art of Photography Today exhibition at the Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver, CO and the 2007 Members Exhibition at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. Portfolios of photographs from this project were also selected for exhibition at the Silver Eye New Works Gallery online at www.silvereye.org/index.htm, and www.Fotomission.org.

Artist Statement

China Life 2008 is a social documentary photography project that was inspired during my first visit to China in 2006. When I had the opportunity to return to China in 2008, I actively sought to photograph scenes with human activities taking place in the parks and the older neighborhoods. In the parks, attention to aesthetics was always evident and scenes with a variety of interesting human activity were invariably encountered. The parks were always well maintained and, eventually, I noticed the unobtrusive park workers in their straw hats. The workers eyes were typically hidden behind the hats’ broad bills.

Older neighborhoods were seemingly being squeezed by the crush of modernization underway in the cities. Many of the citizens encountered in these neighborhoods appeared to be getting by in life by engaging in work and routines that had been little affected by modernization. Human power was alive and well and there was a lot more life and living going on in the public places of these neighborhoods than anything I have witnessed in the larger cities of the United States.