CANAL GRANDE, 29.04.2020 – 7.04 pm, (c) thespacelessgallery.com

Photographer Gaby Wagner has lived in Venice for twenty three years and when lockdown started last March 8, she decided to catch the opportunity to photograph this usually overcrowded city. She always carried a chemist bag with her because the police was stopping unusual movements on the street and buying medicine was her excuse to go out one hour a day. And she took pictures with her iPhone 11, so as not to be noticed. From early morning to night, she walked around town in a one km circle from Campo San Polo where she lives, and shot all the famous views in complete stillness and silence. The result is this unusual, large book of 95 photographs selected from more than 800 shots.

Auhtor Gaby Wagner at Galerie Guillaume (c) thespacelessgallery.com

The only inhabitants visible in the book, are pigeons and Gaby Wagner qualifies the city as a ghost town in her introduction.  And the general feeling of the book is that the city of the Doges is pretty spooky without any visitor… The first photo is at San Marco at 7.20 am, the last one is of Palazzo Bernardo at 9.40 pm. For each picture she indicates the time and of course the place where it was shot. For someone who is used to photographing the Orient, India, Cambodia and Burma, it is a great change. These pictures are invaluable because “when will we ever again see the Grand Canal so still”?

PONTE DI RIALTO E PALAZZO DEI CAMERLENGHI – 19.04.2020 – 8.36 pm, (c) thespacelessgallery.com

The book sells for 60€ at Artcurial or you can order it from any bookstore. “Venice in Silence” by Gaby Wagner, Ediciones El Viso. There is also a luxury edition with one print included at 350€ which can be ordered from the spaceless gallery.