Georgian alpinist and photographer Guram Tikanadze was born on September 12, 1932. He was a geologist, who eventually became a first-class boxer. He was a school-boy when he got interested in photography. Later, he participated in Soviet Union as well as international exhibitions and received numerous awards and prizes. The silver medal Guram Tikanadze received at the 1959 Youth and Students’ International Festival in Vienna became the first international award in history of Georgian photography.

During the period of August-September in 1958 Guram Tikanadze, along with a group of four people, accomplished the most difficult traverse on the main chain of central Caucasus, conquering 14 out of 16 mountaintops, being awarded the silver medal of the Soviet Union. Nobody, at that time, had accomplished the same traverse in the history of the world alpinism. Guram has managed to climb up to 40 mountaintops. His first was “Spartacus” in 1952. From 1957 on was climbing the 5th grade mountaintops. First such summit was Mount Garmo in Pamir, in 1957. In August of 1963, with a sport group that he himself headed, he conquered Tetnuldi. On 21st of August, the group reached Shkhara. He tragically died on the 27th of August, while descending the mountain.

Guram Tikanadze’s activities coincided with the so-called Khrushchev Thaw period, when young photographers intentionally ignored the rules of staged photography and were boldly pushing reportage photography forward. Guram Tikanadze greatly contributed to the development of Georgian photography by creating a certain cultural and genetic tradition. His works were regularly being published in various Georgian and international publications. He worked as a special photo correspondent for Polish, Czech, Slovakian, and GDR’s publications. With unexpected perspectives and an ability to discover the “unusual” in usual, Guram Tikanadze’s photographic language reminds us of the photographic language of the avant-garde of the 1920s and particularly, the aesthetics of the works by Alexander Rodchenko. In 2004, he was awarded the Alexander Roinashvili honorary prize for the outstanding merits in the development of Georgian photography by Kolga Tbilisi Photo week.

In Georgia Guram Tikanadze is deservedly called a teacher of the successive generation.  Guram Tikanadze would have turned 90 in 2022.