LA-based Swiss photographer turns lens on his Alpine village

For 30 years, Verner Soler, a Swiss photographer who lives in Los Angeles, has travelled back to Vrin in southeastern Switzerland to capture everyday life in the small mountain village where he grew up. Verner Soler says he feels like an ascending diver when he travels from his current home, the vibrant metropolis of Los Angeles, to his hometown, the idyllic village of Vrin in canton Graubünden. Soler emigrated to America over 30 years ago and has built a life there with his family. He works as a creative director at the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, where he creates campaigns for brands such as Toyota. Vrin - Flüchtige Heimat [Home through an Emigrant's Lens] is a photo book which was published in September 2024 by Chasa Editura Rumantscha CER. But he says he only feels a real sense of being home in Vrin, a Graubünden mountain village in Val Lumenzia. “Home is the connection to both the people and the land,” he says. He finds the former in Vrin and Los Angeles - the latter ...