Virginie Rebetez Exhumes Her Grandparents and Turns the Act Into Art at Bienne's Photoforum

Herz — Switzerland Desk · 15 July 2026 at 15:38 · 30s summary · 2 min read

What We Know

According to Le Temps, Swiss photographer Virginie Rebetez presents 'The Encounter' at Photoforum Pasquart, a cultural center in Bienne dedicated to contemporary photography. The artwork resulted from the exhumation of her grandparents, René and Simone Rebetez.

In 2025, Rebetez learned that the cemetery plot concessions of her grandparents in Courrendlin (Jura) had expired. A cemetery plot concession is a right granted to a family to occupy a burial site in a cemetery for a fixed period. Without renewal, the municipality may proceed with grave leveling.

Rebetez proposed involving her family in the exhumation of the bodies and making it the centerpiece of a new artistic work.

The exhibition also presents 'You Will Find My Body at the Little Harbor' (2020), a photographic series documenting the suicide of her great-uncle.

Context

Virginie Rebetez has worked for nearly twenty years on themes of death and the memory of the deceased. The artwork 'You Will Find My Body at the Little Harbor' (2020), documenting her great-uncle's suicide, exemplifies this same personal and documentary approach.

In Swiss cemeteries, grave leveling occurs after a plot concession expires. Funeral monuments are removed and the ground is returned to its natural state, erasing any visible trace linking the deceased to the living.

Timeline

1. 01.01 01:00
   Virginie Rebetez begins her artistic practice focused on death and the memory of the deceased.
2. 01.01 01:00
   Creation of 'You Will Find My Body at the Little Harbor,' a photographic series documenting her great-uncle's suicide.
3. 01.01 01:00
   Rebetez learns of the expiration of her grandparents' cemetery plot concessions in Courrendlin (Jura) and proposes involving her family in the exhumation, which becomes 'The Encounter.'
4. 2025–2026
   Presentation of 'The Encounter' and 'You Will Find My Body at the Little Harbor' at Photoforum Pasquart in Bienne.