Vernissage – Exhibition Dominic Nahr
Where the City Breathes
May 9th – La Poste, General-Dufour-Strasse 26, 2502 Biel/Bienne
18:00 – 22:00 / Short presentation at 19:00
Journées photographiques de Bienne, 9.-31.5.2026
Biel is a city defined by presence.
Located at the linguistic border between French and German Switzerland, it carries both identities without fully belonging to either. Its streets reflect decades of industry, migration, labor, and transition. Factories, housing blocks, commercial streets, and quiet residential corners exist side by side.
The lake opens the city outward, while the urban center holds the density of everyday life. Biel is direct. It is open. It carries pride without needing to announce itself. This work emerges from walking through the city without assignment or expectation. Observing what exists on the surface and what remains underneath. People passing. Light touching buildings. Moments of waiting, of returning, of continuing. Lives unfolding in public and private space. There is no attempt here to define the city. Only to remain present within it.
Produced in 2026, this documentary work was created for exhibition with Leica and forms partof an ongoing exploration of place, presence, and contemporary urban life. The exhibition is part of Journées photographiques de Bienne, 9.-31.5.2026
Leica Camera Switzerland and the Biel-based creative collective REBL present this special highlight at La Poste.
.
Dominic Nahr was born in Appenzell, Switzerland, and grew up in Hong Kong. He studied photography at Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts in Toronto, Canada, graduating in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 2009 he moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where he began his professional career documenting political change, conflict, and everyday life across East Africa.
From 2010 to 2014 he was represented by Magnum Photos, and from 2011 to 2015 he worked as a contract photographer for TIME Magazine. In 2018 he became a Brand Ambassador for Leica Camera. Since 2021 he has been a staff photographer at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) in Zürich, Switzerland, where he covers international news and long-term documentary projects, including the war in Ukraine.
Nahr is the recipient of numerous awards, including a World Press Photo Award, Pictures of the Year International Award, the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, and multiple Swiss Press Photo Awards. In 2024 he was named Swiss Press Photographer of the Year. In 2025 he received the Stern Prize for Photo Reportage of the Year and the Zürcher Journalistenpreis together with journalist Ivo Mijnssen.
His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and festivals including Les Rencontres d’Arles, Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto, and Fotostiftung Schweiz. His photographs are held in permanent collections including the National Gallery of Art, Fotostiftung Schweiz, the Ryerson Image Centre, the Harry Ransom Center, and private collections.
Dominic Nahr lives and works in Zürich, Switzerland
Award-Winning War Photographer • Dominic Nahr
