This photographic exhibition offers an immersion in the daily lives of young people who arrived in Switzerland as unaccompanied minors and now live at the cantonal reception centre in Couvet. Their photographs show their living environment, activities, relationships, and hopes for the future.
Accompanied by texts written by the young people themselves, the images highlight individual journeys while also showing what connects them with young people here and elsewhere. The exhibition invites visitors to take a nuanced and humane look at their lives in today’s European context.
The project was created in February 2026 by and with young residents of the Couvet centre, together with educator Aurélie Abboud, communications officer Tabatha Meylan, and photographer Reto Steffen.
Created for the 2025 Journées de l’Europe in Neuchâtel, « Récits brodés » brought together many groups and associations to create a participatory mural about peace. Participants included young people from SEMO and ESPACE, EPER, RECIF, Balkkon, the initial reception centres in Couvet and Tête-de-Ran, L’Amar, the Botanical Garden, and senior community groups.
This project brought together young people from SEMO and a class of unaccompanied young migrants from ESPACE to explore human rights, how they see Neuchâtel, their place in society, and their aspirations. Their photographs and texts were presented in a collaborative exhibition during « Horizons créatifs » at the Peristyle of Neuchâtel Town Hall.
Since 2022, « Nos Regards » has used photography as a tool for expression, French-language learning, and participation in public life with people who recently arrived in Switzerland.
Participants photograph their everyday surroundings, select the images collectively, and create exhibitions that invite the public to rediscover the region through their eyes.
Discover the Nos Regards project
Listen to the « Paroles d’artistes – Nos Regards » podcast on asile.ch
Collaboration with ESPACE, a Canton of Neuchâtel programme supporting the integration and education of people with migrant backgrounds. This collaboration provides the setting for several of the workshops and participatory projects presented above.
Objectif Désistance is a new project accompanying people coming out of prison to help them integrate into society and keep them from recidivism.
The project "Skills for Industry" from the Zurich University of teacher education studies the impact of vocational skills training in different countries. I organized, produced, and edited a video about their research in Bangladesh for a conference.
Nouveaux Jardins is an initiative to bring together migrants and Swiss residents to do some gardening together. The participants learn agroecological techniques, grow vegetables, and above all, create a space where they can talk about whatever is on their minds.
I traveled to South Africa for an assignment for a Swiss NGO, fastenaktion.ch, to take pictures of the Rural Women's Assembly and their activities. I was very impressed by how women fight to make a living from agroecology for themselves and their families.
Find out more about the project
Pictures and stories about this project have been published multiple times on the internet by creatives-for-conservation.org and Find out more about the project.
I had the pleasure of joining researchers from the University of Bern and the National University of Laos who are studying how the increasing demand for coffee is shaping the livelihoods of farmers in Laos. I made a series of videos on how the researchers work as well as personal stories from coffee farmers.