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Trans Visit is a photographic documentation of transgender people. It is an artistic report, in book form, which tackles a subject in a sensitive rather than voyeuristic way a subject that remains steeped in taboos, even in a supposedly enlightened 21st-century Europe.

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The book Trans Visit , an artistic report by Swiss photographer Martin Bichsel, is due to be published by Kommode Verlag at the start of October 2014.
The voice of Conchita Wurst echoes from speakers all over the world as the diva with a full beard and stunning voice wins the Eurovision Song Contest. Finally there is hope for more tolerance and respect for all genders and gender identities. But have Europeans actually become more tolerant? And what does a glance at the rest of the world reveal? Was the success of Conchita Wurst a sign that Europe, at least, is becoming more open, and that its people have more tolerance and respect for their neighbours? Or was the drag artist nothing more than a tokenistic media construct designed to boost the continent s reputation?
The answers to these questions can be found in places where the show business spotlight has gone out. Swiss photographer Martin Bichsel has been accompanying transgender people all over the world for nine years, and gathering together personal stories from Albania, Japan, Greece, Tunisia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Switzerland.
Now, in October 2014, Kommode Verlag is publishing Trans Visit , a book which combines photographic documentation with people s personal stories. The photographer is not looking to criticise society with his book; instead he is trying to tackle a subject in a sensitive rather than voyeuristic way a subject that remains steeped in taboos, even in a supposedly enlightened 21st-century Europe. The book launch in Zurich will take place on 20 November, the official Transgender Day of Remembrance, at Zentrum Karl der Grosse.
In Bern, the Trans Visit project exhibition will also be opened to coincide with the book launch in the PROGR city gallery on 22 November.
The Trans Visit book has also benefitted from the support of Transgender Network Switzerland and its president Henry Hohmann and co-president Alecs Recher, who will be guests at the launch.

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Martin Bichsel is a freelance photographer who lives in Bern. He was born in 1973 and grew up in the Emmental region in the Bernese Mittelland. In 2000 he completed his GaF (Gruppe autodidaktischer Fotografen - self-taught photography group) training and since then he has been working primarily in the editorial sector. Aside from his commissioned work, Bichsel continuously devotes his attention to his own artistic projects. His work also includes the "flüchtig" (fugitive) exhibition, which consists of portraits of asylum seekers in Bern and was put on display in 2014 at the ´Heitere Fahne´ cultural centre in Wabern and in "Le Cap" in the French church in Bern. Martin Bichsel is always exploring taboo aspects of society, building bridges in the process. Bichsel is also a part of the "rueckenlage" cross-discipline collective and works at the PROGR cultural centre in Bern.

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