Our Town est le portrait photographique de New Bern réalisé par MICHAEL von GRAFFENRIED. New Bern est une petite ville de Caroline du Nord de 30 000 habitants, dont environ 55% de citoyens blancs et 33% de citoyens noirs. C‘est ici en 1710 que Christoph von Graffenried, émigré de Berne, en Suisse, a commencé à construire quelques maisons au confluent des rivières Neuse et Trent; la cité naissante a pris le nom de sa ville natale. Prises sur une période de 15 ans, les photos de Michael von Graffenried ne sont ni des compositions formelles ni des instantanés éphémères, mais des images patientes de la vie quotidienne. Elles se caractérisent par une empathie, une compréhension de ses sujets et l‘absence de jugement: une congrégation d‘église noire, de jeunes filles blanches s‘exerçant à la pratique du fusil; des hommes noirs échangeant de l‘argent dans la rue, un couple de blancs exhibant sa collection d‘armes à feu et admiratif d‘un trophée de la chasse – un grand ours en peluche; une strip-teaseuse noire s‘exhibant pour un homme blanc.

En juin 2020, à la suite du meurtre de George Floyd le 25 mai 2020, New Bern a connu la plus grande manifestation qu‘elle a jamais vue, parallèlement à de nombreuses démonstrations Black Lives Matter dans tout le pays. Pour la première fois la question raciale, les relations entre Noirs et Blancs s‘exprimait dans la ville. Our Town de Graffenried est à la fois un document sur la fierté d’une communauté et un appel empathique à une meilleure intégration et une plus large compréhension à un moment décisif de l’histoire.

Our Town is MICHAEL von GRAFFENRIED’s photographic portrait of New Bern, a small city in North Carolina with a population of 30,000, conspicuously composed of 55% white and 33% black citizens. It was here in 1710 that Christoph von Graffenried of Bern, Switzerland, first began building houses at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers; the fledgling town took on the name of his home city. Taken over a period of 15 years, Michael von Graffenried’s photos are neither overly formal compositions nor fleeting snapshots, but patient images of everyday life showing understanding and no judgment of his subjects: a black church congregation, young white girls at rifle practice; black men exchanging cash on the street, a white couple displaying their collection of firearms with the trophy of the hunt—a great stuffed bear—looking on; a black female stripper performing for a white man.

In June 2020, following the killing of George Floyd one year ago on Mai 25, 2020, the largest demonstration New Bern had ever seen took place, parallel to many Black Lives Matter protests throughout the country and marking the first time the issue of black-white race relations had been thus proclaimed in the city. Von Graffenried’s Our Town is a both a proud document of a community and an empathetic call for increased integration and understanding at a decisive moment in American history.

New Bern: The Portrait of a Small American Town -> Blind Magazine 18.05.2021

New Bern, portrait d’une petite ville américaine -> Blind Magazine 18.05.2021

Kratzen am Lack des American Dream -> Der Bund, 1. Mai 2021

“ …Graffenrieds images showed New Bern in an unflatering, even racist, light.“
Sun Journal, New Bern, NC – Thursday, September 27, 2007

«When Swiss Roots, an organization that offers Americans a chance to trace their Swiss history, approached me with the idea of going to New Bern, I first said no. New Bern, where Pepsi Cola was born, is a small town in North Carolina. It was founded by a family ancestor, Christoph von Graffenried, who had sailed for America in 1710, and I felt I’d worked enough on Switzerland for the time being. But on second thoughts, I decided I could use this family tie to open up the doors of this uneventful town. I went there several times over the year 2006. I wanted to hand America a looking-glass. A first selection of 33 panoramic pictures was shown in New Bern under the name “Our Town – an inside look at the United States today ». New Bern’s inhabitants did not like my version of their American life. Over the course of two months, local newspaper The Sun published eight articles without once publishing a picture, be it to announce the exhibition or to illustrate the debate over the project. I wonder if the freedom of the press in America is so obvious after all.»

Baseball, 2006, C-print / Aludibond, 298 x 125 cm, Édition : ap/3
Underwater Marines, 2006, Lambda print, 298 x 125 cm, Édition : 1/3

Michael von Graffenried interviewed by US Cannel 12 on his starting project „Our Town, an inside look at the United States today“ in front of the Town Hall in New Bern, NC (2006)

Michael von Graffenried talks with Phil Knight on Channel 12 about his project „Our Town“ and the show in the Banks of the Arts in New Bern, NC (October 20, 2006)

As Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second city with its 12 million inhabitants, is now preparing to welcome the Olympic Games this summer after hosting the World Cup two years ago, and whereas the country is suffering from a political crisis linked to an important corruption scandal, the photographer captures the transformation of the metropolis and its population within its diversity.

„For quite some time now, Rio has been the negative example of social inequality. Will this city of millions end up as a modernized and peaceful winner after the Olympic Games? Or will one only have memories of a big international event ? Will nothing have otherwise changed ?“

Rio est une ville en plein bouleversement. En vue des Jeux, il ne suffit pas de construire des installations sportives, il faut équiper toute la ville et tenter de rapprocher les 12 millions d’habitants de la mégalopole. Transformation de quartiers, pacification des favelas, rêve ou réalité?

Le photographe Michael von Graffenried a posé, depuis deux ans, son regard sur Rio. Il le transmet dans un livre, Changing Rio, publié aux éditions Slatkine.

Works

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #12
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #14
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #24
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #25
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #28
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #29
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #30
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #32
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #33
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #34
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #37
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #44
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #45
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #46
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #52
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #57
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #58
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #64
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Michael von Graffenried, Changing Rio, 2014-2016, #66
Archival pigment print, 42 x 104 cm / 16,5 x 50 inches (edition of 7) or Lambda print 124,5 x 300 cm / 49 x 118 inches (edition of 3)

Media Coverage

RTS Sport-Première, Samedi 14.05.2016, 19h03
Changing Rio

L’Illustré 17, 2016 (PDF)

St.Galler Tagblatt, 06.05.2016

L’Hebdo

All year long, the people of Munich look forward to the Oktoberfest. When the time has come, the city’s inhabitants, joined by tourists from all over the world, put on their Lederhosen and Dirndl dresses and gather on the Wiesn. With seven million litres of beer flowing at record speed, social boundaries are soon overstepped. The grass by the tents is used as urinals and becomes strewn with intoxicated corpses, while the police and medical teams try to keep up with sinking inhibition thresholds. Bierfest shines a light on the decadent side of what is probably the most famous folk festival, and celebrates its nostalgia and mass elirium in equal measure.

„I sometimes felt
as in a civil war“
Michael von Graffenried

Michael von Graffenried was born in Bern in 1957 and lives in Paris. He started out as a photojournalist and today works on long-time projects using different media. His photographs were exhibited in France, Switzerland, New York, Algier, Hong Kong and Beirut and are part of various international collections. He was the third Swiss photographer, after Robert Frank and René Burri, to receive the Dr.-Erich-Salomon-Prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (German Society of Photography).

Book Michael von Graffenried Bierfest — Book design by Michael von Graffenried and Gerhard Steidl 128 pages 11.6 x 9.4 inches / 29.5 x 24 cm 55 double-page panorama photographs Four – colour process Hardcover — Euro 38 / £ 28 / US$ 45 / CHF 35 ISBN 978-3-86930-680-3 Printed in Germany by Steidl

Ungewöhnliche Fotos vom Oktoberfest

Bayerischer Rundfunk:
Bürgerkrieg, Flüchtlingskatastrophe, Drogenszene: Michael von Graffenried fotografiert mit einer Amateurkamera, die ihm erlaubt, sich den Menschen unbeobachtet zu nähern. Genau so hat er nun die Besucher der Wiesn fotografiert.

Bierfest # 0, 2010-2011, Inkjet print, 48 x 110 cm, Édition : 2/7

Bierfest # 3, 2010-2011, Lambda print, 124,5 x 284,5 cm, Édition : 1/3

Bierfest # 29, 2010-2011, Lambda print, 124,5 x 284,5 cm, Édition : 1/3

-> Media Coverage Bierfest

“The boy on the trunk is a pygmee from the Baka tribe. Because of industrial logging, his future in the equatorial forest is bleak. To explain my work, I often use the word “encounter”. I want to confront people who would never normally meet. For these encounters to take place, I try to photography people in “real” situations. I then transfer the images in the viewer’s environment, thus the panoramic format. The viewer can then delve directly into the event, and feels he is himself within the picture frame.

„Photography is the perfect excuse to enter the dream, this world where we do not belong.“

Albertine Bourget, January 2009 – in the book eye on africa

These 32 panoramic images, made over two one-month stays in Cameroon, were printed on publicity boards in five Swiss cities. It is my goal and my hope that the viewer will let himself plunge in the image and, maybe, reduce the distance and fear between the African and himself. Eye on Africa wants to show the diversiy and beauty of an African country, far from the poverty and violence usually associated with the African continent.”

Coucher de soleil sur l’océan Ekribi, la riviera du Cameroun, 2009, ink jet print, 125 x 284 cm, Édition : 1/3Wum, 2008, Lambda print, 125 x 284 cm, Édition : 1/3 Baka boy, 2009, Lambda print, 110 x 48 cm, Édition : 1/5