As you may know, the Boho hotel of Prague is more than just a place to stay, it is a bohemian and artistic space located in the heart of the Chezch capital aimed at understanding Prague in a different way, giving the chance to discover all the charm of this Golden City from a different and unique point of view.
Following our artistic purpose we’ve launched a very special photography project, taking pictures from some secret and hidden corners of Prague that are really worth knowing and experiencing.
The Matrioska as a camera
One of the Matrioskas in one of the streets of Prague.
Jordi Llorella, our artist, has wandered around the city for 59 days capturing some of the best spots in town. Nevertheless, he has done it with a very peculiar camera; a Matrioska.
These Russian wooden dolls are one of the most popular souvenirs in Prague, even if they bring bad memories among the local population, they absurdly resist over the years turning into football players or talented politicians, new faces that attract innocent tourists to buy them regularly, justifying their existence.
As the artist states the Matrioskas are a “non-object” in Prague, a souvenir-toy looking for its place in the city, for the delight of some confused tourists seeking typical objects to take back to their homes.
Our Matrioskas seeking their place in Prague among presidents, players and VIPs
But what really interested Jordi Llorella about these hollow dolls is the possibility to turn them into cameras through the pinhole technique. Actually it’s an ideal object for doing so. Being a dark box with the option to open it, we just need to drill a small hole in one of its sides and put a tiny sheet of aluminum (from a soda can for example) perforated by a needle. This will be the diaphragm of the camera. Now we only need to place a photosensitive material that captures the image inside the dark box, and the doll is already a camera ready to capture the world from its particular point of view.
A photographic diary
Portrait of the artist by the Vltava river.
Jordi Llorella and his Matrioska-camera will wander around the city for 59 days, creating a visual diary of the city that will be displayed in the hotel, as each room will be one page of this diary. Thanks to this photographic diary he will explain Prague through his Matrioska’s eyes. Remember to check this blog regularly as we will be posting his pictures to keep you updated about this artistic project.
An eccentric Czech jazz musician dancing in the vicinity of the Old Town Square next to one of the pinhole Matrioskas.
In each room of the Boho hotel in Prague you will find an original photography from this series hanging on the wall. All these photographs are also accompanied by stories that talk about bridges, stews, Jewish legends, white wines, tourists… and many other things that compound the imaginary of such a bohemian city.
You can see the publication of these photos in the Project 57 section of this blog.
