Public benches are nothing special at first glance–maybe just a place to sit and check your email or lean on when you have to tie your shoe. But benches are used by millions of people every day, all with their own stories and unique characteristics. These people come from all walks of life and are all there for different reasons.
Hungarian photographer Gabor Erdelyi wanted to capture the thousands of moments that a city bench sees, and so he created this series called Life of a Bench, which is a collection of more than 100 photos taken over a year of the same bench in Barceloneta, Barcelona’s seaside district.
Taken from above and without the subjects’ knowledge, these might seem voyeuristic, but they also show us how all kinds of people use and share public spaces and how the places we live bring us together more than we might realize.
His photos capture the everyday street life of the citizens of Barcelona as they eat, nap, relax, talk, and take in their surroundings. He even managed to capture a city worker giving the bench a hose bath.
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