Michael von Graffenried started as a photojournalist in 1978, travelling the world for numerous international publications. He works on long term projects using different kinds of media frames, such as outdoor campaigns on public billboards or film.
His documentary film War without Images, which he produced together with Mohammed Soudani, was first screened at the Locarno filmfestival in 2002. He has exhibited widely in Switzerland and France, as well as in New York, Algiers, Hong Kong and Beirut. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Swiss Foundation for Photography, Winterthur, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris and several other major European and US collections. His work appeared in many books, such as Sudan, a Forgotten War (Benteli, 1995); Naked in Paradise (Dewi Lewis, 1996); Inside Algeria, (Aperture, 1998), Cocainelove (Benteli, 2005); Eye on Africa (2009); and Bierfest (Steidl, 2014).
Michael von Graffenried was given the title of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres of the French Légion d’Honneur in 2006 and the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize of the German Society of Photography 2010.
