About

Wolfgang Bernauer is a Swiss ophthalmologist, author and photographer. He has been steeped in the sciences since childhood. His father was a chemist and his uncle was the inventor of polarising filters. It was these exposed glass plates and his family’s collection of old cameras that first inspired him to explore photography.

His medical degree was soon followed by training as a photographer and his first art-historical photo essays. Bernauer’s work is characterised by a striking interest in and deep respect for the society and culture of people living in remote areas of the Alps and Greece. His research and photography emphasise their traditional lifestyles, dwellings, calendars and traditional craft techniques. It was a stay of several weeks in Olymbos in the mountains of Karpathos that inspired the long-term project My Greek Village in 1996. The photographer’s other long-term project is called Alpine Life. By purposely depicting his subjects in their own cultural environments, he imbues his portraits with a historical character.

Bernauer’s writing and photographs have been published in a variety of print and online media, including Reise und Kultur, Photographie, Foto-Magazin, Color-Foto and Schwarzweiss. His photography was featured in the magazines fotoforum, Medico Journal, Taxidia (by Kathimerini), Greece Is, Athens Voice and Parallaxi.

• Solo exhibition MY GREEK VILLAGE in Zürich (2019)
• Publication of the photo book MEIN GRIECHISCHES DORF (Edition Bildperlen 2019)
• Bronze International Media Award (ICMA) London (2019)
• German Photo Book Prize Silver, category “Documentary Journalistic” (2020/21)
• English Greek photo book MY GREEK VILLAGE (2024)