Artist file


Nicolas Righetti * 1967 in Genève, lives in Genève

Nicolas Righetti was born in 1967 in geneva, where he currently lives. a member of the Rezo.ch photo agency since 2001, Righetti has worked for a number of swiss publications, including L’Hebdo, Le Temps and Sonntags Blick, as well as for such international publications as La Repubblica, Newsweek, The New Yorker and The New York Times.

his travels around the world, especially in asia, triggered a growing interest in megalomaniacal and totali [...]

Nicolas Righetti was born in 1967 in geneva, where he currently lives. a member of the Rezo.ch photo agency since 2001, Righetti has worked for a number of swiss publications, including L’Hebdo, Le Temps and Sonntags Blick, as well as for such international publications as La Repubblica, Newsweek, The New Yorker and The New York Times.

his travels around the world, especially in asia, triggered a growing interest in megalomaniacal and totalitarian political figures. he has made several trips to dictatorships and developed an original stylistic treatment of his subjects, catching the decorum of power at its own game. he travelled to North Korea four times between 1998 and 2001. his film, Guided Tour of North Korea, won the Quality Prize from the city of geneva. at the same time, he released the book, The Last Paradise North Korea (olizane, geneva, and umbrage, New york, 2003). this photographic work on the show of power won first prize at the 2004 swiss Press Photo awards in the international category.

Between 2005 and 2006, Righetti made three trips to turkmenistan, where he examined the excessive iconography of its omnipresent dictator, saparmourat Niazov. his images were featured in the book, Love Me Turkmenistan (labor et Fides, geneva, and trolley, london, 2007), earning him first prize at the 2007 World Press Photo awards in the “portrait story” category.

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