Estelle Yaluner
Photographer. Anthropologist. Radio Reporter
Estelle Yaluner (formerly Estelle Kromah) is a fine-art photographer whose practice lies at the intersection of artistic creation and visual anthropology. Rooted in a rigorous mastery of medium-format analog photography (Mamiya RZ67), she embraces the slow process of film development and the physical presence of the camera to conduct a profound observation of human beings within their environment.
For Yaluner, a territory is never a mere backdrop: it shapes bodies, gazes, and postures. Her work explores how individuals inhabit their space—whether urban, social, or scarred by historical upheavals. By prioritizing direct, immersive encounters in the field, she envisions the camera as a tool for connection and a conduit for truth, capturing the vulnerability and resilience of her subjects far from standardized representations.
This posture as a researcher and keeper of memory culminates in major series shot across the globe—from the street observations of Atypic Urban Concept in Lausanne (2006) and 90 Nights in Harlem (2006), to long-term immersions in New Caledonia, Tokyo, New York, and Reykjavík.
From 2007 to 2010, Estelle Yaluner also worked as a photojournalist for the major Swiss daily newspaper 24 heures, conducting field investigations, social reporting, and portraiture across Switzerland. Her published press work from this period is fully indexed and accessible via the digital press archives platform Scriptorium (BCUL).
Currently based and working in France, she continues to develop projects where images engage in a permanent dialogue with territory, spoken testimonies, and community bonds. Born in Switzerland of Russian descent, Estelle Yaluner also works as a journalist and radio reporter.
A MANIFESTO FOR A LIVING ARCHIVE
My practice lies at the intersection of social inquiry and heritage documentation. For me, photography is not an act of contemplation, but an act of preservation.
As an anthropologist, I seek to understand the structures that bind us: whether through flesh, speech, or stone. As a documentary photographer, I impose upon myself a rigorous standard of witnessing. My work rejects the spectacular to focus on the essential: the permanence of craftsmanship, the dignity of cultures in transition, and the silent memory of walls.
Each image is a socio-cultural and temporal testimony. Each radio interview is a rescued fragment of memory. My commitment is to build an iconographic and sonic record that serves as a bridge between history and the future of humanity.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
2026 — Official Selection, Festival Hors Cadre Béziers Images – Solo exhibition at Les Ostals de Béziers (October 2026) featuring :
Íslendingar! Sex Before Coffee: A Love Manifesto.
2026 — Íslendingar! Sex Before Coffee: A Love Manifesto, Iceland. Ongoing community-based research and participatory archive project.
2011 — Azumaotoko: Through the Glass (Japan Series), Group Exhibition, Miami, USA.
2009 — ATYPIC URBAN CONCEPT SWITZERLAND, Monographic Exhibition, Moscow, Russia.
2009 — Íslendingar! Sex Before Coffee: A Love Manifesto, Reykjavík, Iceland. Original medium-format documentary research
2007 — Letter to Teddy Dounote, Wevia tribe - Ouayaguette, New Caledonia. Fieldwork & epistolary archive.
2007-2010 — Photojournalist for the Swiss daily 24 heures — Coverage of current affairs, social reporting, portraits, and on-the-ground visual investigations in Switzerland. Published work archived and accessible on Scriptorium (BCUL).
2006 — ATYPIC URBAN CONCEPT, Monographic Exhibition supported and selected by the City of Lausanne. Public urban space installation (Graphic design by Werner Jeker).
2006–2008 — Chronicle of the Vaudois Margins, photographic and documentary field research, Switzerland.
2006 — 90 Nights in Harlem, Solo Exhibition, Galerie FNAC, Lausanne & Zürich, Switzerland.
SELECTED PRESS & MEDIA COVERAGE
2006 — Press & Media Coverage : https://www.scriptorium.ch/browse (estelle kromah)
24 Heures (Switzerland) — ATYPIC URBAN CONCEPT: Month-long daily series featuring 30 full-page portraits and field notes published across 30 consecutive days.
Swiss National & Regional Press — Features, interviews, and exhibition coverage across various daily newspapers (Le Temps, Tribune de Genève) and cultural media on the public space installation in Lausanne.
CONFERENCES & TALKS
2007 — Conference, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
‘On Identity and Normality Through an Authentic Eye’ : Guest lecture given by Estelle Yaluner
EDUCATION & RESEARCH
2005 — Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, Major in Sociology & Anthropology.
Research in Progress (2026): ‘ Guardians of the Wild ’ — Anthropological and photographic ( masmedia ) research on contemporary pastoralism and landscape preservation in the UNESCO World Heritage region of Causses and Cévennes, France.
Photography E.Yaluner :
About page : ‘firefly’, Midtown Manhattan NY 2019
Home page : ‘ Valentine at home with the dwarves ’ Fribourg, Switzerland 2007