Winter Wonderland

“Hechenblaikner’s intimate knowledge of the subject, the great perseverance and patience he brings to bear when pursuing how event culture and mass tourism have mutilated the former mountain farmers’ country, make him the most expressive documentarian of today’s Alpine reality.” Tobia Bezzola “Have fun” reads a sign on a ski run, a photograph of which opens Winter Wonderland. And fun we have exploring these images of Hechenblaikner’s native Tyrol including masses of fans at a ski event, fireworks illuminating slopes at night, ski lifts in the off-season navigating rocky outcrops, and rubbish in the snow after a day of revelry. This book is a documentation of this landscape and an ironic look at the perversion of Alpine culture that shapes it in the interest of commerce. Lois Hechenblaikner was born in 1958 in Tyrol where he lives and works today. After nearly two decades working in Asia as a travel photographer, Hechenblaikner returned to Tyrol and began exploring the impact of tourism on its landscape. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, most recently at Filser & Gräf in Munich in 2011.