by Noah Brelage
During a wet and cold Carneval in Düsseldorf, Germany at the beginning of 2020, I took a few pictures of people dressed in costumes in a tram. It was a chaotic and vibrant atmosphere in the subway station I positioned myself in. In one of the most central stations of the city, right near the clusters of bars and discos, people were getting in and out of the trams, dressed in every concievable cheap costume the stores had to offer, all the while getting very drunk and living life to the fullest.
It was impossible to catch every single thing happening at the same time. I tried my best to pick out little moments I found interesting, anyway. This resulted in some of my favourite pictures I have yet taken. Ever since then, I took photos in the same style, always looking for life in these public spaces. Thats why I called this series “public living rooms”. I enjoy the idea of all of the scenes I captured for this series so far could be happening all at once, somewhere in a single city. I grew up in a small rural village but always loved the city. I still do. The sheer amount of things you can encounter by simply taking a stroll through any city guaranees that city life never gets boring.
So far, the only way I managed to capture this feeling of seemingly infinite complexity is through these photos. I still catch myself finding new details in the pictures I took. Together, they turn every photo from a series of coincidences into a rich story of life.
