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Libellules – the other side of the tracks in Geneva

Award-winning Swiss photographer Christian Lutz spent three months documenting life in Libellules, a poor multicultural district in central Geneva.

Just a few kilometres from downtown Geneva and its five-star hotels, banks and glitzy designer boutiques, Libellules is a working-class district west of the main train station. The area is characterised by its tower blocks and crisscrossing highways. Sixty per cent of residents are non-Swiss.

Lutz, winner of the 2011 Swiss Press Photo award, spent three months with the people of Libellules. His photos of their everyday life capture the unsettling atmosphere there partly caused by high level of unemployment, lack of prospects and sense of abandonment.

The photographer approached the subject with the same critical eye and powerful observation seen in his previous work, such as Protokoll, Tropical Gift and In Jesus’ name. Avoiding overly exaggerated images, he focuses on the lives of the Libellules’ residents, and produces a series of images, which reveal the true intimacy of the place, its people and its problems.

(Text: swissinfo.ch/VU; images: Christian Lutz)

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR