"BÜNDNR SICHT" - B&W photography

In recent years, Reto Thöny from Chur has mainly been on the road in Prättigau, but also in the Engadine and in the Bregaglia. Now he shows pictures that are deliberately kept in black and white. With them, he uses a visual language that sometimes seems almost minimalist. It also shows the grandeur of the Graubünden mountains, for example with pictures of the Rätikon and the Bregaglia. Much more often, however, he reduces his view to details and details. The landscape around it can then be guessed at best. Moods can be seen that are limited to a group of trees in Grüsch or Valzeina or a stone wall in Promontogno, for example.

But the pictures are always composed in such a way that they appear harmonious. Among them are those that are strictly structured and in which an attempt is made to reduce the motif to forms and structures. In addition, there are also pictures in which the atmosphere is in the foreground. For example, when your gaze wanders from the Gross Furgga to the Sulzfluh. Or when a pond becomes visible in the fog on the way to the Berghaus Vereina. Reto Thöny's photographic approach is different: some shots were planned, others were created spontaneously.

Reto Thöny studied economics, law and history at the Universities of Fribourg and Bern and then worked as a business journalist for daily and weekly newspapers such as the Berner Zeitung, the business newspaper Cash and the Sunday newspaper of Tamedia. In addition, he devoted himself to freelance photography projects. Over time, the canton of Graubünden and its landscapes increasingly became one of his photographic focal points.

He published on this topic early on in the then "Bündner Zeitung", e.g. reports on Chur's backyards or the former Moser nursery. Later, he showed a panorama series about the Engadin in the German photo magazine "NaturFoto", he photographed a series of postcards about the Misox village of Monte Laura and exhibited pictures of the cultural landscape of the Bregaglia in an exhibition in Zurich. Last but not least, he also worked as a photography teacher for the German photography school "zooom-in" in Graubünden.

Opening on Friday, October 25 from 5 p.m. in the Stadtgalerie Chur
Exhibition with the presence of the artist: from Oct. 25 to Nov. 02, 2024
Opening hours: Tue – Fri from 13:30 – 18:30, Sat: 10:00 – 17:00; Sun and Mon closed