Rahel Krabichler is a swiss photographer working on commissions as well as personal projects, exploring, challenging and disturbing the ordinary and cliche knowledge of identity and interconnections.

Rahel is based in the suburbs of Berne, Switzerland where she lives with her son in a small apartment on the border to countryside. From the balcony you can see people jumping of the 10 meter diving platform.

"I am not collecting memories. I don't try to preserve whats happening by producing images like canning surplus ripe fruits in autumn. My theme is not really my small family, not my son or my girlfriend or even Switzerland. Its not about photography either.

What I do is looking for mirrors; finding in the outside symbols and reflections of all the stuff convulsing, moving and hiding inside me. I never was good in knowing who I am and whenever I tried to define and be myself by fencing me off from the rest of the world, I failed and lost connection completely until i felt more like a frightening possibility than a person. Then I changed my tactic and started bringing together the strangeness of the inside and the outside. As well as. My own and the others. The whole oddly interconnected thing called life.

The themes are so big and old, so scary, I feel I need maximal reduction to have a chance to create understandable results without getting lost in meaningless details or mawkish old stories. So I stay close and follow the few people who are really near me and go for the places in my neighborhood. I choose the limited two-dimensional black and white photography as my tool and I work with no additional light or technical frippery. It sometimes feels a bit like making contact with smoke signals instead of Skype.

I work with whatever moves me. Not much concept behind, not much thinking. I don't really stage things, they happen while we are together – and I am influencing part of what happens. Most of the time, I take pictures with my only son, my father or my girlfriend. And after a while i start to look at the work and find new connections revealing themselves. It just did not end until now. I have not arrive yet – so I carry on."

bio
2008 – today, working on personal photographic projects and on commission for clients
2011 – today, giving lessions and workshops
2009, giving up the idea of being a therapist and saver of the world
2008 – 2009, working as therapist, mother and photographer
2008 – today, being mother
2004 – 2008, school for naturopathy – homeopathy for animals, Zürich
2001 – 2008, working as graphic designer and art director in different agencies, Bern
2001 – 2008, education in shamanic knowledge, techniques and rituals in Austria
1999 – 2001, photography and lab classes
1997 – 2001, apprenticeship graphic design, Bern
1996 – 1997, Vorkurs, Schule für Gestaltung Biel/Bienne
1994 – 1996, international school Ecole d’Humanité, art focused classes
1986 – 1994, public school
1979, born in Basel next to the zoo

exhibitions, honors, published
2017, finalist lensculture portrait award
2017, group show, swiss photo award at Photobastei, Zürich
2017, 2nd place, swiss photo award, category fine art
2017, group show Photo17, Zürich
2016, two honorable mentions IPA, 2016 international photo awards
2016, two honorable mentions, family of man, IPA
2016, group show Werkschau, Bern
2016, part of the book „family photography now“ from Sophie Howard and Stephen McLaren
2015, featured and interviewed by kwerfeldein
2015, silver award for the best portfolio, photo meet offspring 2015, London
2014, solo exhibition, Mätteli, school for children with special needs, Münchenbuchsee