In the series Get Swiss or Die Trying To which Marvin Merkel has been working for several years, regularly increasing him with new images, a number of shots of Swiss identity are recognized. In bulk: the glorious Edelweiss, the oath of the Grütli, Guillaume Tell the national hero, the high watchmaking, the love of the brain, or even certain known graphic elements-and perfectly designed, of course-like the Red Cross, the UBS logo or that of SBB. The absolute icon that is the Tervin comes to perfect this collection of signs of the Swarpius Swer.
For the Swiss Design Awards, where he was selected this year, the photographer completed this image gallery with a new sculptural piece. It is a large cardboard box with a red button and a camera, a fairly summary machine in its manufacture and which allows you to print in a few seconds a Swiss passport. Merkel, born in Lausanne of German parents, has always lived in Switzerland but does not have nationality. “Without passport, without family ties, without roots in Switzerland, I have never fully identified myself as Swiss, although I have lived here all my life,” he explains, before recalling that because of their foreign nationality, almost a quarter of people residing in Switzerland are, in fact, excluded from the right to vote. An edifying statistic that led him to question the functioning of Swiss democracy.
