Christian Lutz: Citizens
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 purportedly “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.
Swiss photographer Christian Lutz has documented right-wing populist people, movements, and hot spots all over Europe for his latest series, Citizens. A far cry from the usual polarized coverage in the mass media, Lutz’s multi-layered photographic approach involves noiseless pictorial expressions of deep-seated despair in the form of candid portraits of party leaders and followers alike and shots of their rallies, post-industrial landscapes, bars and hangouts.
About the Author
Christian Lutz was born in Switzerland in 1973. He’s a graduate from ESA 75, L’Ecole Supérieure des Arts et de l’Image, in Brussels.
His work is both exhibited throughout the world and regularly published.
Lutz began working on his trilogy in the early 2000s: Protokoll, Tropical Gift, and In Jesus’ Name were subsequently published based on political, economic, and religious power.
His photographic approach focuses on a scrupulous sociological observation of human groups and while the formal qualities of his images are visually appealing they often reflect an acerbic visual commentary on our collective preconceived socio-political constructs. After his Insert Coins project (2016) showing the decline of Las Vegas, Lutz set off to the world s new gambling capital Macao in The Pearl River (2019). He put together The Pearl River and Insert Coins for his Eldorado exhibition at the 50th edition of the Rencontres d Arles in 2019.
