“Zikmund and Hanzelka” Award
This work was commissioned as a trophy for the best Czech travel book and photography of the year.
The award is made from cast iron and bronze and is presented annually at Dobříš Castle. My molds will be used to cast two statues each year for future ceremonies.
It pays tribute to the two most famous Czechoslovakian travelers, Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka. Their initials are embossed in the plated gold of the statue. Their journey, recorded in their diaries, was widely read across the country at the time.
Zikmund and Hanzelka embarked on their first journey in the late 1940s and 1950s, traveling across Africa and South America in a Tatra T87. This car became such an iconic part of their adventure that I chose to incorporate the shape of its back wing into my statue, casting it in bronze.
Just as Zikmund and Hanzelka are inseparable, my statue is composed of two parts, each representing essential qualities a traveler must possess: spontaneity and rationality