When the most beautiful cattle in the Appenzell villages are chosen in autumn, smoke rises above the festival grounds. Children, often still in their early teens, unabashedly puff on ‘Krumme’ or ‘Stumpen’ cigarettes, iconic symbols of Swiss tobacco culture. They do not do this in secret or as an act of rebellion, but in the midst of the village community, which not only tolerates the act, but encourages it. This is to honour the child, who is taking on agricultural work and responsibility at an early age.

With his work Smoke, artist Kris Lüdi approaches the custom from a personal perspective. As a child, Lüdi spent his summers with his grandparents in Appenzell and encountered the children of the region with the intimidated gaze of an outsider of the same age. Their nonchalant, down-to-earth manner conveyed a sense of purpose that resonated and, with Smoke, formulated his delayed reaction.

The result is a reflection on the progressive and conservative forces of the present, on local customs, cultural practices and their place between tradition and modernity. Smoke ventures into the heart of Switzerland. Folkloric tradition is the occasion for a photographic observation that documents reality but does not see itself as documentation. Instead, the portraits of smoking children create a resonance that extends far beyond the canton's borders.