Born in Czechoslovakia in 1950, Vlastimil Kula’s photographs are mysterious and defiantly sexy.
Frustrated by what he calls the “boredom of pornography” and the mechanical depiction of sex, Kula aims to distance himself from traditional genres and challenge what people consider “art”.
Working exclusively in monochrome he presents an intoxicating melange that depicts himself, his wife, and various other men and women all engaged in acts of sex, taboo, love, passion, and rebellion.
The inner, psychological torture caused by the struggle between culturally indoctrinated and established taboos and sexual behaviour driven by almighty Natures will, which we are supposed to hide, oppress, and be ashamed of, is a subject that profoundly interests me.
Spending most of his life in opposition to his country’s Communist government fuelled a desire to expose what people refuse to recognise in themselves, a noble struggle to which his photographs successfully attest.
http://www.kulaphotography.com/
All images © Vlastimil Kula