Essentially self-taught, internationally-renowned Swiss photographer Hannes Schmid has been active for decades in various fields of photography.He chose to blur the boundaries between commissioned projects and personal work very early, offering the viewer a somewhat intimate and close-to-reality experience through his various images series.

By the late 1970s he focused on simultaneously documenting cannibal folk culture in Indonesia and the rock music scene, his interests panning such different subjects because of their ‘intensity’.

He spent almost a decade on tour with over 250 bands (including AC/DC and The Rolling Stones) before entering the world of fashion and advertising photography, working on commissions for magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Schmid produced his famous icon – the Marlboro cowboy – later, reaching mass audiences as well as the contemporary art scene. For Gods Only, The Flow of Life, F1- Moment of a Moment, and the film Bonneville Final Run are some of his most important projects.

Published on the occasion of Hannes Schmid’s solo exhibition at Kunstmuseum Bern, 13 March – 21 July 2013.