Naissance d'un canton 1962-1978

Title: Naissance d'un canton 1962-1978

Photographer(s): Bernard Willemin

Writer(s): Philippe Simon

Designer(s): Gilles Lepore

Publisher(s): Éditions du Sauvage, Porrentruy, Switzerland

Year: 2021

Print run:

Language(s): French

Pages: 132

Size: 23.5 x 32 cm

Binding: Softcover

Edition:

Print: Centre d'Impression Le Pays SA, Porrentruy, Switzerland

Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: Switzerland,1962-1978

ISBN: 978-2-9701429-0-4

From 1962 to 1978, journalist Bernard Willemin photographed the actions of the Groupe Bélier and painted a portrait of a canton in the making. With his camera in hand, he was involved in many of the daring actions of these young people who tattooed the Jura on their souls: demonstrations, tarmacking tram tracks, joking with the authorities...

In Bernard Willemin's images, you can't help but be struck: by the autonomist demonstrators caught in the snow, who stoically content themselves with putting their hands in their overcoats to continue making a fist in their pockets; by the efflorescent array of Jura flags unfurled around the ‘Fritz’; or by a torch-lit march through the streets of Porrentruy, which takes on the air of an electric arc against a backdrop of disjointed cobblestones. In short, these are all images that combine an account of the revolt with grey poetry and a carnival atmosphere.