28.06.2021  •  Shop NEWS

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GoSee Book Tip : ‘Citizens’, the book by Christian Lutz, documents right-wing populist people and movements across Europe in bizarre portraits and everyday scenes, appearing at EDITION PATRICK FREY

For his latest series entitled Citizens, Swiss Photographer Christian Lutz has documented right-wing populist people, movements and hot spots all over Europe. A far cry from the usual polarized coverage in the mass media, Lutz’s multilayered photographic approach involves noiseless pictorial expressions of deep-seated despair in the form of candid portraits of party leaders and followers alike, as well as shots of their rallies, post-industrial landscapes, bars and hangouts.

“Populism is an evil fairy; it bewitches with words, announcing a future prosperity. It manages to make us forget that its nets are toxic, that they produce segregation, exclusion, despair. Its arguments send us back to our physical and symbolic borders; it prepares the ground for social warfare, phobias, asphyxiation of thought and of the human bond. It manipulates our minds and our instincts.

The parties that spread this ideology are familiar birds who abruptly attack. They are part of the landscape; they lodge themselves in industrial wastelands, in quiet and bourgeois cities, in the eyes of individuals. They lurk in every inattention of our moral values, in every breach that fear makes. In the end, this story will be the tale of a Europe grappling with itself and the redefinition of its values.”

In the wake of the financial and refugee crisis, economic and social insecurity, Brexit, the current coronavirus pandemic and its attendant economic and social upheavals, identitarian movements are gaining ground worldwide. Touting visions of impending doom and gloom, including overpopulation and social decline, they fan fears and peddle so-called “common sense” solutions and promises that breed exclusion and intolerance. All of Europe is witnessing the political ascent of right-wing populist parties: UKIP in the UK, Dansk Folkeparti (DF) in Denmark, FPÖ in Austria, AfD in Germany, Vox in Spain and SVP in Switzerland, to name just a few.

Biography: Swiss photographer Christian Lutz (b. 1973) precisely observes social issues and dynamics in his work, focusing on the social manifestation of political, economic and religious power. His work has won a number of awards and is regularly shown in Switzerland and abroad. Lutz has been based in Geneva since 1996. 

CITIZEN – Christian Lutz . With texts by Christian Lutz, Designer Pablo Lavalley . Hardcover, 220 pages, 100 color ills., 20 × 29 cm . ISBN: 978-3-907236-12-3, language: English.

 
Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

 
Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

 
Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

 
Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

Christian Lutz 'Citizens' / EDITION PATRICK FREY

 
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