Beat Schweizer

The Book «Mikhailovna Called» combines three projects about Russias far north. The photographs in the book were taken during a number of trips to Teriberka, Dikson and Norilsk from 2012–2018. With texts from Sascha Renner, Urs Mannhart, Roman Konik, Tanja Achlomova and Misha Danov.

Time and again, Beat Schweizer travels to the extreme north of Russia. The theme of isolation has preoccupied the photographer for many years now. What is life like in the northernmost cities and settlements in the world? Beat Schweizer’s three-part series of works provides surprising answers to these questions. It tells of extreme living conditions, but also of the beauty of normality and the desire for freedom. Norilsk, the city of superlatives: The mining town is not only the world’s most northern city, but also the most polluted. With its well-paid jobs, it offers its 175,000 residents the prospect of prosperity. In stark contrast, only a few hundred people find work in Dikson which for eighty-two days sinks into the polar night. Teriberka at the Barents Sea is the third settlement whose structures and inhabitants Beat Schweizer documented within the frameworks of his long-term project.