Stéphane WinterDie Winter

Born in Busan, South Korea, to unknown parents, Stéphane Winter found himself thrust into the life of an almost ordinary Swiss couple—living in a small apartment in the suburbs of Lausanne. By day, Robert Winter worked as a mechanic, while Pierrette attended to household chores. Within the confines of their shared home, their evenings were lulled by the hum of Austrian television. They would study the specs of the latest Opel—the next car they would need to save up for patiently. Boredom would set in, and when it became too much, they would indulge in role-playing during impromptu photo sessions. Weekends meant visiting an aunt in German-speaking Switzerland or taking a drive to the Great St Bernard Pass. Amidst this reconfigured landscape, Stéphane Winter sometimes seemed to mischievously embody the 1980s alien character Alf. Outside, the seasons turned; snow piled up on the balcony, in the parking lot, and on the identical apartment complex across the way. Cars left their tracks in the winter landscape. From the balcony, one could see the nearby highway cutting through the scenery—years later, a noise barrier was added, though the highway remained. This Lausanne suburb was a far cry from the Switzerland of luxury watches and thousand-franc notes. The Winters’ world was the quieter Switzerland of allotment gardens and Migros supermarkets. Here, Stéphane Winter captures the intimate, tiny world of a handful of people—a subject he has been photographing since he was fourteen and first started playing with a camera, doing so without any ambition to exhibit the work publicly or turn it into something "serious." It is undoubtedly this sincerity that gives the work its power. Exhibition: "Die Winter," at Galerie LAC during the Images Vevey festival.