{"product_id":"smoke","title":"Smoke","description":"When the most beautiful cows of the Appenzell villages are crowned in autumn,\r\nsmoke rises over the festival grounds. On this day, children—often still in their early\r\nsingle-digit years—puff unabashedly on Krumme cigars, or Stumpen as they are\r\nknown locally, emblematic representatives of Swiss tobacco culture. They do so not\r\nin secret or as an act of rebellion, but in the midst of the village community, which not\r\nonly tolerates the tradition but is also the very source of it. It is a gesture of\r\nacknowledgment for the children who take on agricultural work and responsibilities\r\nfrom an early age.\r\nWith his work Smoke, artist Kris Lüdi approaches the custom from a place of\r\npersonal memory. As a child, Lüdi spent his summers with his grandparents in\r\nAppenzell and encountered the local children with the intimidated gaze of an outsider\r\nof the same age. Their nonchalant, down-to-earth manner conveyed a sense of\r\nmeaning that resonated with him, and Smoke is his delayed response to that.\r\nThe result is a reflection on the progressive and conservative forces of the present,\r\non local customs and cultural practices, and their positioning between tradition and\r\nmodernity. Smoke ventures into the very heart of Switzerland. Folkloric tradition\r\nbecomes the starting point for a photographic observation that documents reality—\r\nbut does not claim to be a documentation. Instead, the portraits of smoking children\r\ncreate a space of resonance that extends far beyond the canton’s borders.","brand":"Antenne Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52920895111506,"sku":"AB8642","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0822\/0062\/5490\/files\/AB8642-smoke-03.jpg?v=1776161999","url":"https:\/\/antennebooks.com\/products\/smoke","provider":"Antenne Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}