We discover the bold and vibrant work of Willem Jaspert as he captures carnival in a Czech village
Who? A former assistant of Corinne Day, Willem Jaspert’s work is a bold and vibrant take on the traditional sensibilities of fashion and portrait photography – an approach that has resulted in an impressive client list including Burberry, Levi's, i-D and Clash Magazine. But while the London native often focuses on dress and colour, he finds himself equally "drawn to things that have a human touch, the way that people express themselves." And in his latest, more personal work, he has turned his attention to a small village amid an unusual celebration native to the Czech Republic.
What? Currently on display at the Photofusion Photography Centre in Brixton, the series is an intimate portrait of the village of Hlinsko. Upon his arrival, Jaspert found a rural town in decline with the onset of the economic recession and technological advancements. But he also discovered that there was simple beauty to be found in the small details of everyday life, "like the way an empty display in the window of a closed-down shop caught the light in its mirrors, or the things that felt a bit like they were stuck in time."
One such age-old tradition is the Masopust carnival, an annual celebration that marks the beginning of spring, and the principal focus of the series. Men from the village parade from house to house dressed in costume, demanding eggs, doughnuts and liquor to ensure a rich harvest and fertility for the region. The costumes are surreal, made from hay and flowers with several characters representing symbolic characters in Czech heritage from bears, chimney sweeps, devils and a horse carrying doughnuts in a bag in its mouth. "I got there as they were getting into their costumes at 5am," Jaspert explains, "it felt like the start of a really weird shoot!"
Why? For Jaspert, the village and its colourful celebrations were a positive opportunity to step outside of the box created by fashion work. "When I was assisting Corinne Day, I always admired the spontaneity in the way she shot," he says. "I guess I tried to bring some of that feeling into aspects of the project. Fashion can often feel so laboured and I wanted to shoot something outside of that space." And what does he hope that viewers will take away from the show? "Maybe the bear [see gallery] will make them smile, maybe they’ll go and visit the Czech Republic..."
Photofusion Select/15 is at Photofusion Photography Centre until June 26.
