© Yann Gross, from the series Horizonville, 2005
© Yann Gross, from the series Horizonville, 2005
© Yann Gross, from the series Horizonville, 2005“The Valais is one of the most touristic places in Switzerland. Its mountains are the icons of this country. To reach those idyllic places, it is necessary to drive through the Rhône plain.
However, only a few people knows what the plain looks like and what is going on there. A highway is passing through the valley, so nobody stops there before arriving to the famous ski resorts.
The industrial landscape, which is characteristic of the valley, isn’t attractive at all, at least at first sight. Nevertheless, most of the inhabitants are living there.
Since i hadn’t a lot of money and wanted to travel, i decided to make a road trip by motorbike for three month is this valley (which is located 50km far from my home), looking for an exotic lifestyle, something else than the picutres i knew from my country (i was inspired by David Lynch’s movie «a straight story»).
By the means of a trip by motorbike in the Rhône Valley, the pictures are about the American dream. The myth we know through the medias and the movies. Most of the people I photographed haven’t ever been in the United State of America. They feel a sense of belonging to another culture that they don’t really know. Far from the Swiss stereotypes, the confusion of symbols and the lifestyle of the people take us in a strange atmosphere, a dreamed reality that doesn’t exist in facts.”
Yann Gross
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Very interesting work!