Three young photographers have been invited to portray the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Swiss ‘watchmaking metropolis’ located on 1000m above sea level. Over two years Yann Amstutz, Matthieu Gafsou and Milo Keller developed their own subjective perspective on the town’s spirit. Focusing on its infrastructure, landscape (Amstutz, Gafsou), and inhabitants (Keller), they discovered the unexpected charm of the city, opening up a new and fresh urban iconography.
I quickly understood that the finery of the city would not suffice to hide its blisters.
So rather than to attempt a forced magnification of the place, I decided to focus on poor subjects, at first destituted of aura…
Matthieu Gafsou
Wrapped with different dust jackets for each photographer, the resulting publication contains a selection of around 100 photographs, presented in four series and accentuated with texts and essays. All photographs and the town’s areas can be followed in a specific city map.
The custom font Léopold, designed by Yassin Baggar for this publication, is inspired by the ‘Avenue Léopold-Robert’, the main street of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
