Tereza Zelenková’s black and white photographs explore the threshold between the reality and the myth. Her practice draws on literature, philosophy, and history, exploring how images can both record and reimagine the past. Working through a combination of staged and documentary approaches, Zelenková is interested in photography’s relationship to the written word, and how personal identity is shaped by the cultural heritage and collective memory of the places we inhabit.


Tereza Zelenkova has received several awards and her work has been exhibited on four different continents. Her photographs are held in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum, Foam Photography Museum, Musée de l’Élysé, Saatchi Gallery and Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Her work was commissioned by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Financial Times and Hothsoe magazine among others.

CV

Education

2010 - 2012 MA Photography, Royal College of Art, London, UK 
2007 - 2010 First Class Honors, BA Photographic Arts, University of Westminster, London, UK


Public Collections

V&A Museum, London, UK
Foam Photography Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, CH
Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, CH
University of San Diego, USA
PPF, CZ
National Bank, CZ


Commisioned work

The New Yorker
The Atlantic
Der Greif
The Financial Times
Hotshoe


Awards

2023  Recipient of the Artist stipend, Ministry of Culture, CZ.
2016  ING Unseen Talent Awards, NL. (finalist)
2015  Jerwood Photoworks Award, UK. (winner)
2015  reGeneration3, Musée de l’Élysée, CH. (finalist)
2012  1000 Words Magazine Award, UK. (winner)
2012  Saatchi New Sensations, UK. (finalist) 
2012  Metro Imaging Award, UK. (winner)
2012  Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, CH. (finalist)
2011  Fresh Faced & Wild Eyed, The Photographer’s Gallery, UK. (finalist)
2011  Flash Forward, Magenta Foundation, UK Honorable Mention.


Solo Exhibitions

2026  (upcoming) TBC, Fiducia Gallery, Ostrava, CZ
2022  Maladies of The Infinite, Berlínskej Model, Prague, CZ.
2022  Maladies of The Infinite, Kulturni Centar Beograda, Belgrade, RS.
2021  The Double Room, Campbell House Museum, Contact Photography Festival, Torornto, CA.
2020  Dead Language, Ateliér Josefa Sudka, Prague, CZ.
2018  The Essential Solitude, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, NL.
2018  A Snake that disappeared through a hole in the wall, Foam, Amsterdam, NL.
2017  Had, ktery zmizel v dire ve stene, NoD Gallery, Prague, CZ.
2016  Two and two is five, Rough Print Gallery, London, UK.
2014  Two and two is five, Galerie Jeleni, Prague, CZ.
2013  The Absence of Myth, Legion TV, London, UK.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025     Joie et Refuge, Czech Centre Paris, FR
2025    Spectral Presences: Spirit Photography, 1865 to the Present, Humanities Centre, University of San Diego, USA
2025    Zero Stars, NoD Gallery, Prague, CZ.
2024   Traces of Labour, Industra Gallery, Brno, CZ.
2023  Memory and desire, stirring, Fotograf Gallery, Prague, CZ.
2023   Monochrome, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, NL.
2022   One of a Kind, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, NL.
2022  The Lore, Have a butchers, London, UK.
2021   Known and Strange, V&A Museum, London, UK.
2021   a Handful of Dust, National Center of Photography and Images, Taipei, TW.
2020  Le Cabaret du Néant, Frac île-de-france, Le Château, Paris, FR.
2019  Unseen Photography Festival, Amsterdam, NL.
2019  a Handful of Dust, Polygon Gallery, Vancouver, CA.
2019  Gothic Fictions, Silver Eye Photography Center, Pittsburgh, USA.
2019  Tender, Czech Center New York, New York, USA.
2018  a Handful of Dust, California Museum of Photography, Riverside, USA.
2018  Jaipur Photography Festival, Jaipur, IN.
2017  a Handful of Dust, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK.
2017  At Home She’s A Tourist, Copeland Gallery, London, UK.
2016 Jerwood / Photoworks Award, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK.
2016  ING Unseen Talent Awards, Unseen Photography Festival, Amsterdam, NL.
2016  Jerwood / Photoworks Award, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, UK.
2015  Jerwood / Photoworks Award, Jerwood Art Space, London, UK.
2015  a Handful of Dust, Le Bal, Paris, F.
2015  reGeneration 3, Museo Amparo, Mexico.
2015  reGeneration3, Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, CH.
2014  Re-becoming, Flowers Gallery East, London, UK.
2014  Continental Shift, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK.
2013  Unnatural Selection, Unseen Photography Fair, Amsterdam, NL.
2013  New Order, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK.
2013  Thresholds, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, UK.
2012  Lianzhou Foto Festival, Lianzhou, China. 
2012  RCA Show 2012, Royal College of Art, London, UK. 
2012  Black Thorns in The White Cube, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, USA.
2012  Hijacked III, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, AU.
2011  The Wonders of The Visible World, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK. 
2011  Altitude +1000 Festival de Photographie de Montagne, Rossiniere, CH.
2011  The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2, Chelsea Museum of Art, New York, USA. 
2010  This Must be The Place, Jerwood Art Space, London, UK.
2010  Women in Art Photography U.K., Taaschen, London, UK.

Residencies

2013  Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, UK.
2011  School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA.
2011  Altitude 1000+, Rossiniere, CH.

Selected Publications

Artist Books

2021  The Essential Solitude (VOID)
2018  The Essential Solitude, (self-published)
2013  The Absence of Myth (self-published)
2012   Index of Time (self-published book - with P. Watkins and O. Shamlou)
2011   Supreme Vice (Mörel Books)

Group Publications

2015  a Handful of Dust, by David Campany (MACK Books)
2012  Seeing for Others (Black Dog Publishing)
2012  Hijacked III (Big City Press)
2011  The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography (HAFNY)

Contact:

tereza.photography@gmail.com