Erwin Stäheli studied art in Basel, Switzerland. After a period of watercolor painting he changed to photography. From 1980 to1994 he worked as a civil engineer, planning and supervising roadworks, concrete and steel constructions, and water supply systems. Since 1995 he has worked as an art photographer. He lives four months out of the year in Central Queensland, Australia where he digs for sapphires and takes photographs. Physical work is essential for his artwork. That’s one of the reasons he prefers to use the medium and large format cameras and why he prints the old fashioned way on fiber-based papers in his own laboratory.

Six of his exhibitions have been held in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and France. His photography has been published in exposé, featuring pictures of the Jura mountain range. The pictures of his roadworks series show tracks of men’s work in isolated and abandoned places. Forgotten objects made out of steel, concrete, and bitumen sometimes become alive again.

The photographs published here are part Stäheli’s roadworks series, inspired by the tension between urban life and nature. Of his compositions, Stäheli explains, "Watching the pictures one might become contemplative. What’s the meaning of work? What am I doing here? There’s always an exit on the pictures following the source of the light. It’s not a really safe exit. But it makes you move on."

To see more of his artwork, visit his website, http://www.winpic.ch.

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