Yann Gross
Switzerland
Biography
Born in Vevey in 1981, Yann Gross grew up in Chexbres and studied visual communication and photography at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL). In 2005 he spent three months on a road trip in the Rhône Valley, where he met up with a group of hard-bitten devotees of an American pioneer way of life. This inspired his Horizonville project, which won him the Prix Découverte at Les Rencontres d’Arles in 2011. Since then, his work has been particularly concerned with questions of identity and environment. He likes to bring to light communities, to challenge references and interrogate sub-identities.
Cases in point are his Kitintale series about skateboarders in Uganda and Le Livre de la jungle, about the Amazon region. Among the many prizes he has won since 2005 is the Jury Photography Prize at the 2010 International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères. He has also exhibited worldwide and his work is published in numerous magazines such as Aperture, The New York Times Magazine, Colors, Frieze and National Geographic.
The artworks
About the artworks
Through his Lavina (Avalanches) series, Yann Gross offers a distinctive perspective on a natural phenomenon deeply rooted in the Alpine landscape. His photographs highlight the ambiguity of the avalanche, at once fascinating and threatening, transforming its power into an almost abstract and pictorial form.
Developed over several years in the mountains, this photographic project extends far beyond the final image. It is rooted in an immersion in the territory and in observing these landscapes as they transform. The stillness of the mountain suddenly gives way to movement, matter and form, offering a new way of perceiving a phenomenon generally associated with danger.
Through this work, Yann Gross invites viewers to look beyond their first reading of the image and to see a seemingly familiar environment from a different perspective.
