Yanko Tihov is a London based artist from Sofia, Bulgaria, whose practice surrounds the issues and imagery of nationality, borders, and identity. He studied at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia, and today, his work sits at an intersection of printmaking, painting, and cartography, often employing different techniques within one piece.
Yanko Tihov’s process begins with passports. Sourced from friends, relatives, collectors, and auctions over the years, Yanko has amassed an extraordinary collection of passports, with documents from the modern day and those which are much, much older.
Yanko Tihov, World Passport Colour Wheel, 2025; London Passport Map, 2024
“Somehow the documents ended up here, and in a way, they’re like strangers who have met me through my work”, Yanko muses.
Yanko’s fascination with passports lies in part in their ever changing nature. ‘The covers are fascinating, because the design of every cover tells you a lot about the country, and what’s going on in that country at the moment.” Yanko is also interested in the idea of identity, and how a person’s identity, history, and experiences can be held within a single document.
The emblems are gilded by first carefully applying specialist gilding glue with a fountain pen, which remains tacky and does not dry down. For Yanko and his small studio team, gilding a whole work usually takes around a day, so this glue is ideal, as there remains plenty of time to apply the gold leaf.
Mockup installation of ‘World Passport Globe with Diamond Dust’, 2020
Yanko shared that “the beauty of this is that when you gild it, it will appear as a sort of raised surface,” as the glue sits thickly atop the design. “The work becomes more of a hand-made piece, rather than just a generic print. Silkscreen can’t really do that, as it’s very photographic.”
Mockup installation of the ‘Circular Cities’ series
Yanko exhibits internationally with TAG Fine Arts, and his work has been acquired by many private clients and public collections. He has been the recipient of a number of art awards including at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Mall Galleries, and ING Discerning Eye.
Yanko Tihov, Branded Colour World, 2026
Contemporary Cartography 