Smoke

When the most beautiful cows of the Appenzell villages are crowned in autumn,smoke rises over the festival grounds. On this day, children—often still in their earlysingle-digit years—puff unabashedly on Krumme cigars, or Stumpen as they areknown locally, emblematic representatives of Swiss tobacco culture. They do so notin secret or as an act of rebellion, but in the midst of the village community, which notonly tolerates the tradition but is also the very source of it. It is a gesture ofacknowledgment for the children who take on agricultural work and responsibilitiesfrom an early age.With his work Smoke, artist Kris Lüdi approaches the custom from a place ofpersonal memory. As a child, Lüdi spent his summers with his grandparents inAppenzell and encountered the local children with the intimidated gaze of an outsiderof the same age. Their nonchalant, down-to-earth manner conveyed a sense ofmeaning that resonated with him, and Smoke is his delayed response to that.The result is a reflection on the progressive and conservative forces of the present,on local customs and cultural practices, and their positioning between tradition andmodernity. Smoke ventures into the very heart of Switzerland. Folkloric traditionbecomes the starting point for a photographic observation that documents reality—but does not claim to be a documentation. Instead, the portraits of smoking childrencreate a space of resonance that extends far beyond the canton’s borders.

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