The Grin

The Grin

On both sides of the ‘Legions’ bridge are two towers, originally used for toll collection in the early existence of the bridge. I can’t recall how many times I have passed through here over the past three years and how many times I had a camera with me. I guess it was the right constellation of stars (I’ve heard that luck favors the prepared) and I suddenly noticed a ‘face’.

One could ask why this kind of vandalism exists and how and for what reasons did these ‘vandals’ destroy the fence and then carved the first, second and third hole in the protective fabric. At first, I noticed the ‘eyes’ and only when I developed the photographs (40x30) I noticed the ‘teeth’ and the ‘nose’. …Since the composition of the photo was awful, I wanted to take the picture all over again…however, the fabric has been replaced and I don’t intend to destroy something only for my own personal interest of acquiring a better shot. I will be waiting elsewhere for that ‘face’ to appear again.

I can only add: ‘A photograph is the absolute Particular, the sovereign Contingency…. the Occasion, the Encounter, the Real, in its indefatigable expression…. A photograph is wholly ballasted by the contingency of which it is the weightless, transparent envelope…’ (Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, pg. 13)

Lukáš Augustýn