how to dismantle a bomb

**Work Context (2019–2025)**

My artistic practice consists predominantly of interconnected works that often originate in Laos. They are based on intensively researched and locally collected material. A new working phase often emerges from a previous one—either through inspiration or through the further processing of individual elements that are transferred into new forms. Since 2019, this has resulted in a multifaceted body of work that deals with a common theme while employing different artistic strategies and working methods. *how to dismantle a bomb* is thus a work context I have been developing for several years, structured into various projects.

2 million tons of bombs: During the “Secret War” between 1964 and 1973, American cluster bombs rained down on the small country of Laos every 8 minutes on average—more than were dropped on Japan and Germany during the entire Second World War. Nearly 50 years later, many areas are still uncleared of unexploded ordnance. The starting point for my work is found in the legacy of this war. My artistic projects are usually researched on-site in Laos; parts of them are created directly there in collaboration with local actors. The experiences, materials, and perspectives gained there form the central source for subsequent projects, which are conceived, realized, and produced in Switzerland. In this way, a transnational body of work emerges that critically examines global entanglements, colonial continuities, and the materiality of war.

The artistic engagement with the documentary image (photography and video) becomes a space for critical reflection, in which the representational promise of photographic images is questioned as much as their role in journalistic and war-related narratives. The work poses subtle yet urgent questions about the construction of reality in the image and analyzes the ideological imprint of photographic representations.

Special attention is paid to the medium itself: How can photography—in both its materiality and its narratives—be rethought to break through hegemonic, colonial, and imperial perspectives? How can the camera be used as a tool that not only observes but also takes responsibility?

A central area of tension lies in the ambivalence between documentary precision and aesthetic seduction: color, composition, and the apparent beauty of object and depiction can distort perception and lead to a problematic aestheticization of violence and trauma. The work therefore not only questions how images of war, destruction, and memory are produced, but also whether cameras are capable of capturing the unspeakable and the invisible aspects of trauma.