He threw tomatoes at the occupiers, and was driven from the Narodni street by batons
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Jaroslav Beneš was born on February 27, 1946 in Pilsen. The communist regime nationalized the hairdressing salon of his parents. He worked for ten years at the Alfa Theatre in Pilsen as a set designer and photographer, then for decades as an archivist and photographer for Prague waterworks. In August 1968, he threw tomatoes at the Soviet occupiers and repainted local signs. They organized exhibitions at home with his wife, Jana Skalická, and established cross-border collaborations with Polish artists. He kept the Obroda group’s documents in custody. In the late 1980s, he went to demonstrate at all anti-regime actions. He took part in a demonstration on November 17, 1989 and became a direct participant in police brutality on Národní třída. After 1989, he exhibited at home and abroad and received a scholarship from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was one of the founders of the Prague House of Photography and the photographic group Český dřevák. In 2022 he lived in Prague.
