David Gaberle: Looking for Prague

About

An outdoor exhibition of the work of Czech street photographer and worldwide ambassador for FUJIFILM David Gaberle capturing the streets of everyday Prague. Following his critically applauded Metropolight project in which he explored world cities from London to Tokyo, Gaberle turned his camera on his native city of Prague. After covering more than 2000 km of streets and six months in making the result is a subjective, almost intimate documentation of Prague offering an untraditional view of places away from the hustle and bustle of tourists.

Extended artist statement by David Gaberle for his photographic exhibition:

“Taking photographs while travelling is often an easy endeavour because everything seems new and interesting. The novelty is seductive and we tend to exoticise what we see and perceive. The photographs tend to say more about us as visitors than about the places we are trying to portray.

When I returned to live in Prague, I focused my camera on the cityscape that lies outside of the historical centre of the city. I walked many of the same streets over and over again in the hope that I would learn to find the seemingly mundane and ordinary to be interesting. After a few months, I stopped wishing for extraordinary moments to happen in front of my lens and I started to notice the textures, the subtle tones of colours and the rhythm of objects in the camera’s frame. I slowly began to see the city as a collage of shapes and colours. It felt like progress, yet I still cannot shake off the feeling that I am not looking at Prague in a way that is completely mine.

Often, I think of the fact that everything the camera and the eye perceive is simply a reflection of light that bounces off the surface. The implication seems to be that we never really see things for what they are. Sometimes I feel like I can sense what that suggests, but the consequences seem so harrowing that I have not yet found the courage to really explore what it means.”

DAVID GABERLE
“David Gaberle underlines with light exactly that spot within the composition that he wants to draw attention to, or lights up the colour that is the essence of the whole image. David presses the shutter often in the moment when the sun’s rays light the small area of the street or just touch the façade of a house at the last moment. It is as if he takes pleasure from this nervy borderline moment when the well-lit streets turn just for an instant into a stage.” Tomáš Pospěch, Curator

Part of 25th Made in Prague Festival (7 November – 7 December 2021)
www.czechcentre.org.uk