Olivia Heussler
Encyclopedia
Olivia Heussler is a freelance Swiss video and photojournalist, artist, and co-founder of international image and photo agencies.
on an art grant for a while. She lived in Nicaragua
during the 1980s and worked in Israel
, Palestine
, Turkey
, East and Western Europe, East-and North Africa and Pakistan
. Her photo essays have depicted the Youth Movements in Zürich
, Nicaragua during war and peace, the situation of the Kurds in Turkey and the Human Rights
in Latin America
. Her work on the Palestinian Union of Medical Relief Committees was published in Out of Jerusalem (Berne 1993), about labor in Schichtwechsel (Zürich and Bellinzona 1996), about the Gotthard mountain in: Gotthard: Das Hindernis verbindet (Zürich 2003), about Nicaragua from 1984-2007 in The Dream of Solentiname (Zürich 2009), about the Youth Movements in Zürich, Sommer 1980 (Zürich 2010), and El sueno de Solentiname (Nicaragua 2010). She is author of several photoessays and her work is present in public and private collections and has been exhibited widely in international Art exhibitions. She instructs students of photography and participates in forums. She lives with her daughter in Zurich
, Switzerland
.
Olivia Heussler’s philosophy is to do photojournalism
as human rights work inspired by one’s own impulses, e.g. going where one feels one has to go to do one’s work. With her choice of regions and localities, Heussler does not go by media attention, but travels independently, often joining colleagues of other professions, be they foreigners or local activists. This is the method followed in her most acclaimed photojournalist series from Kurdistan, Palestine
and Nicaragua
.
1996 Peoples in Zones of Conflict, Zafta (Israel, Haifa ISR Municipality)
Prohibition of discrimination: Czech Republic, Brno, 1992: "Death for Gipsies!" (p. 109 above right), Guatemala, 1985: During a campaign by a women’s group (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo), formed to help one another (p. 143 above), Honduras, Tegucigalpa, April 1984: Honduran military generals during a meeting (p. 143 below), Switzerland, Zurich, March 1993: Refugees from Sri Lanka learning German (p. 149), Protection of private life: Italien, Brindisi, 1992: Police raid in the quarter il Paradiso (p. 339 above), The right to work: Pakistan, Quetta, 2001: Three Hazara boys work as carpet weavers 10 hours a day, seven days a week and for $30 a month (p. 511), Nicaragua, Mulukukú, 1994: Women of the MLO (Maria Luisa Ortiz) Women’s cooperative are instructed in their carpentry workshop (p. 516), The Protection of property: Switzerland, Zurich, 1988: Allotment garden (p. 531 above), Fair trial and prohibition of torture: Turkey, Ankara, December 1990: Judge Muhittin Mihcak during a trial against three Kurdish lawyers (p. 584 below), Guatemala, Guatemala City, 1985: People standing in a public place in front of a list of missing persons (p. 605 below), Political rights and freedom of expression: Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: The Roma family Mihai going to vote for the first time (p. 646), Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: Romani woman Mrs Mihai is going to vote for the first time in 40 years (p. 653 above).
Life and Works
Olivia Heussler (*1957) was trained as a medical technician before becoming a photographer. She studied at Zurich art school, ZHdK as a guest student and lived in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on an art grant for a while. She lived in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
during the 1980s and worked in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, East and Western Europe, East-and North Africa and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Her photo essays have depicted the Youth Movements in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Nicaragua during war and peace, the situation of the Kurds in Turkey and the Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Her work on the Palestinian Union of Medical Relief Committees was published in Out of Jerusalem (Berne 1993), about labor in Schichtwechsel (Zürich and Bellinzona 1996), about the Gotthard mountain in: Gotthard: Das Hindernis verbindet (Zürich 2003), about Nicaragua from 1984-2007 in The Dream of Solentiname (Zürich 2009), about the Youth Movements in Zürich, Sommer 1980 (Zürich 2010), and El sueno de Solentiname (Nicaragua 2010). She is author of several photoessays and her work is present in public and private collections and has been exhibited widely in international Art exhibitions. She instructs students of photography and participates in forums. She lives with her daughter in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Political Views & Activism
- "One doesn’t have to photograph the battlefield to show what war is. I document what these movements provoke and can depict that. Most clearly, through those concerned, on whose side I am. " (Olivia Heussler)
- "As a Photographer it was also my duty to teach my subjects to take pictures themselves. … That is what I understand as development aid: give people a craft and instruction so they can work independently. And, given widespread illiteracy, photography is ideal for promoting autonomyAutonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
." (Olivia Heussler)
Olivia Heussler’s philosophy is to do photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
as human rights work inspired by one’s own impulses, e.g. going where one feels one has to go to do one’s work. With her choice of regions and localities, Heussler does not go by media attention, but travels independently, often joining colleagues of other professions, be they foreigners or local activists. This is the method followed in her most acclaimed photojournalist series from Kurdistan, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
.
Solo exhibitions in English
1993 Jenseits von Jerusalem/ Out of Jerusalem, Biel (Photoforum PasquArt)1996 Peoples in Zones of Conflict, Zafta (Israel, Haifa ISR Municipality)
Books published in English
- Jenseits von Jerusalem, Out of Jerusalem (Exhibition in Photoforum Pasquart in Biel, 7–20 June 1993), Texts: Martin Woker, Ruchama MartonRuchama MartonRuchama Marton is an Israeli psychotherapist, psychiatrist, and feminist, and the founder of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.-Early Life and Work:...
, Sumaya Farhat NaserSumaya Farhat NaserSumaya Farhat Naser is a Palestinian Christian peace activist in the West Bank.She attended Talitha Kumi, a boarding school in Beit Jala which was founded by Lutheran deaconesses in the 19th century...
. Translation into English: Evan Scott Porter. Ed. Esther Woerdehoff. (Text in both English and German) Bern: Benteli, 1993. ISBN 3-7165-0896-9 - 25 Years Rebuilding Lives: United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, Kälin, Walter. Photos by Olivia Heussler. Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2006. ISBN 92-1-154167-0 (English), ISBN 92-1-254157-7 (French.), ISBN 92-1-354092-2 (Spanish)
- Der Traum von Solentiname/The dream of Solentiname Photography Nicaragua 1984-2007, Texts: Sergio Ramirez, Martin Heller and Olivia Heussler in German, English and a textbooklet in Spanish. 220 b/w and color pictures. Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich 2009 ISBN 978-3-905509-79-3
- Zürich, Summer 1980 over 100 b/w photographs. With an essay by Stefan Zweifel, in German and English, Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich 2010 ISBN 978-3-905509-89-2
- El sueño de Solentiname/The Dream of Solentiname, Photography Nicaragua 1984-2007 Texts: Sergio Ramirez, Martin Heller and Olivia Heussler in Spanish and English, 220 b/w and color pictures. UCA-IHNCA, Managua Nicaragua 2010 ISBN 978-99924-986-4-4
Examples of Heussler’s photojournalist work by subtitle
In The Face of Human Rights the following photos by Olivia Heussler can be found:Prohibition of discrimination: Czech Republic, Brno, 1992: "Death for Gipsies!" (p. 109 above right), Guatemala, 1985: During a campaign by a women’s group (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo), formed to help one another (p. 143 above), Honduras, Tegucigalpa, April 1984: Honduran military generals during a meeting (p. 143 below), Switzerland, Zurich, March 1993: Refugees from Sri Lanka learning German (p. 149), Protection of private life: Italien, Brindisi, 1992: Police raid in the quarter il Paradiso (p. 339 above), The right to work: Pakistan, Quetta, 2001: Three Hazara boys work as carpet weavers 10 hours a day, seven days a week and for $30 a month (p. 511), Nicaragua, Mulukukú, 1994: Women of the MLO (Maria Luisa Ortiz) Women’s cooperative are instructed in their carpentry workshop (p. 516), The Protection of property: Switzerland, Zurich, 1988: Allotment garden (p. 531 above), Fair trial and prohibition of torture: Turkey, Ankara, December 1990: Judge Muhittin Mihcak during a trial against three Kurdish lawyers (p. 584 below), Guatemala, Guatemala City, 1985: People standing in a public place in front of a list of missing persons (p. 605 below), Political rights and freedom of expression: Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: The Roma family Mihai going to vote for the first time (p. 646), Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: Romani woman Mrs Mihai is going to vote for the first time in 40 years (p. 653 above).
External links
- Photo archive Olivia Heussler
- Heussler’s solo exhibitions sorted thematically
- Heussler’s scholarships
- Heussler’s group exhibitions
- Collective printed works Heussler cooperated on
- Material on Olivia Heussler