Photographed November 8, 2022
In the pre-pandemic era, Prague was visited by about 8 million tourists a year and was the 20th most visited city in the world and the 5th most visited city in Europe. Tourists come from all parts of the world expecting to see Prague's beautiful sights and to immerse themselves in Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. The famous sites in Prague are already iconic and largely kitsch, and highly sought after. A large number of tourists spend a lot of money in Prague and shopping is often part of their stay in the city. Although Prague is a beautiful city and the views of Prague Castle and Charles Bridge evoke aesthetic admiration even in those who have seen them many times, most people living in Prague already pass them by without paying much attention.
In Prague, tourists will encounter one more ubiquitous sight that they may not have expected, did not count on, or at least did not come to Prague for. And just like the aesthetically high, although kitsch, these views, which are in many ways the opposite of the previous ones, are ignored by the locals. These are views of homeless people or people living in sub-average socio-economic conditions. There are an estimated 3-6 thousand homeless people in Prague. They often do not hide from the gaze of tourists and Prague residents, but rather expose themselves to these views in popular and busy places. Their motivation is often the concentration of money that tourists bring, and the related possibility that visitors to Prague, in their travel and holiday euphoria, will take pity and share their funds. The visitors often have no shortage of these funds, which is already conditioned by the fact that they have decided to travel abroad in their free time and spend money. And when they do not share it voluntarily, they leave it lost on the street or in the form of still usable goods in trash cans and cigarette butts.
And often these two perspectives are so close that they are literally simultaneous. So I decided to take a series of pairs of photographs. Both photos in each pair are taken from exactly the same place. I did not move between taking the first and second picture, I just changed literally the angle of view and focal length. I used focal lengths between 24mm and 70mm (of fullframe equivalent), which corresponds to the most common focal lengths on lenses that tourists bring along and use simply for taking pictures of landmarks and sights. Below is a map showing all the locations where I took the pairs of photos. Under each pair it also states the name of the monument or place and the exact coordinates from where I took both photos.
My aim was to capture this dual perspective that is offered - one sought after and one not. One side of Prague to which we give our gaze, and the other side from which we avert our gaze. Both attracting and consuming money, each in a different sense. I don't know the people I photographed as part of this series, so I cannot say if they are truly homeless, but looking at them it was obvious that they are in socio-economically difficult circumstances, even if perhaps the photo in question fails to properly capture that. If I was wrong in any case, I sincerely apologize to the person. If you do not want to avert your gaze, you can learn more about this issue on this page, which also has a list of links at the bottom where you can help these people in some way:
https://www.praha.eu/jnp/cz/o_meste/zivot_v_praze/praha_bezbarierova/lide_bez_pristresi/index.html
