During carnival, the photographers of the Swiss picture agency Keystone are often in action at unusual hours, documenting wild celebrations in all their local forms across the country.
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Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
The last big event in the annual carnival calendar in the “Morgestraich” in Basel. At 4am, masked people playing piccolos and drums set off through the city.
The collection of images presents a short – and obviously far from complete – stroll through Switzerland’s carnival traditions. Not everywhere puts on massive events – in many places carnival consists simply of smaller parties and masked get-togethers in local pubs.
(All images: Keystone; text: Thomas Kern, swissinfo.ch)
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.