“Cafés”, whatever the country, are the place where people meet spontaneously and where everyone is welcome. Friendly, one can meet people of all origins, all social classes, all religions. Each one of them is an actor, playing the main part in his own story. In 30 years of calendars, Lavazza has told us the stories of many of those people, mixing dreams and reality over a cup of coffee.
For its 2023 calendar, Lavazza chose the American photographer Alex Prager. She has produced her work under the title “YES! we’re OPEN”. In it, she embodies the beauty of a humanity that is rediscovering its vitality and curiosity, expressing its individuality and connecting people. A way for Lavazza to reaffirm its freedom of thought and expression, to remind everyone that they have been in business since 1895.
If Alex Prager is an artist who loves happy endings and spectacular settings, she is also very sensitive to popular culture and street photography. In her work, she likes to merge past and present to create a sense of ambiguity. Her images are both familiar and disturbing, depicting worlds that synthesize fiction and reality and evoke a sense of nostalgia. She cultivates surrealism creating emotional moments that resemble memories or fabricated dreams.
In this series, wide shots alternate with close-ups in a meticulous construction and a subtly provocative humor. Her inspirations are as much classical Hollywood cinema, as hyperrealism or pop iconography to propose images referring to humanity and connection in an ever changing and often unreliable world. For whatever our origins, our emotions are the same and unite us in our differences.
Carole Schmitz
