Arnold Odermatt
On Duty
HC, 29 x 32 cm., 336 pp.
Steidl 2006
Police officer and photographer Arnold Odermatt became famous in his retirement on the publication of Karambolage, his photographic journal about the traffic accidents that were part of his professional life in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden. The small police force in the Nidwalden communities was worried about who could take over its work because the village youth did not see themselves wearing uniforms and walking the beat. On Duty brings together the photographs which were Odermatt?s attempt to disabuse them of their misconceptions. He sent his colleagues to the barber shop and theatrically recreated the adventure in their daily routines. On Duty is a compelling sequence of colourful tableaux and an impressive document and insight to a hidden world.