Michael
Von Graffenried
War without pictures
The war in Algeria in
the years 1989 – 99 left its mark on everyone. Nobody could
feel safe.
That was exactly what the terorists wanted. Michael von Graffenried
was one of the few who managed to record this war, so close, and yet
so remote. His photos show the fear of people, the fear of policemen
guarding the photographer.
Michael von Graffenried photographed everyday life in Algeria for
nine years. He focused on the documentary element, taking candid pictures
of people met in the streets, cafes, cemetaries, even in barracks.
He recorded the faces of people he met on his way, wherever he could
go, during all those crisis years.
Michael von Graffenried, born in 1957, works as a freelance photographer
in Paris. His first important series focsed on his home country –
Switzerland (Swiss Image/1989 and Swiss People/1991); for the next
eight years he worked on an essay on a nudist camp situated in the
neighbourhood of Neuchâtel („Nus au paradis”, «
Naked in Paradise », preface by Harald Szeemanna, 1997).
Fascinated with the implications of islamic fundamentalists’
activity, von Graffenried went to Sudan ("Soudan, une guerre
oubliée” /1995 - « Sudan, a forgotten war »)
and, most importantly, to Algeria, a country he first discovered in
1991 and where he often returns ("Algérie, photographies
d'une guerre sans images"/ 1998, « Paris et Journal d'Algérie
»/ 2004).
In the years 1997 – 99 von Graffenried had a weekly photo column
entitled « Weltpanorama » in Die Weltwoche (Zurich). 53
photos taken in every possible corner of the world were published
in a German newspaper Die Zeit (Hamburg) in its last 21st century
copy.
In the years 2001 – 2002 one photo from his 52-piece series
„52 fois la Suisse, le regard exilé d'un photographe
sur son pays” was published every week in « Le Temps »
(Geneva » and in die Weltwoche (Zurich) under the title „Swisspanorama”.
In spring 2003 the Fine Arts Museum in Bern exhibited his „Entre
deux mondes” (Between two worlds): 28 large format panoramic
photos (120 x 288cm).
Michael von Graffenried won the World Press Photo award in 1989 for
his series « Les artistes de Moscou ramenés du purgatoire
soviétique par la Perestroïka ». Many exhibitions
of his photographs were held, e.g. in New York, Paris, Algeria and
Hong Kong.
The 90-minutes-long documentary "Guerre sans images - Algérie,
je sais que tu sais" (War without pictures – Algeria, I
know that you know) made with its producer Mohammed Soudani was presented
for the first time at the Internation Film Festival in Locarno in
2002.
www.mvgphoto.com
