Yann Mingard

The past two centuries of industrialization and urbanization have had an incisive impact on nature. Europe's forests, once wilderness, have become civilized, cultivated landscapes. No one is more familiar with the creeping changes in nature than artist Yann Mingard (*1973 in Switzerland). Trained as a horticulturist, his photographs take viewers into the underbrush, where the forest betrays its most intimate spots, so to speak. Neither tourists, joggers, hunters, nor even forest rangers make their way here. Here, Flora shows her withered grass, dark earth, and bits of fur or skin that still seem to harbor the warmth of a frightened animal. All of becomes visible thanks to the long exposure time of the photographs, taken at twilight. Only here and there do colors shine tenuously through the darkness of the horizonless pictures. Exhibition schedule: Neuchâtel, Neuenburg, opening January 12, 2012