Olivia Heussler


Olivia Heussler is a Swiss photographer known for her photos of major political, historical and cultural events.

Life and works

Olivia Heussler was trained as a medical technician before becoming a photographer. She studied at Zurich art school, ZHdK as a guest student and lived in Paris on an art grant for a while. She lived in Nicaragua during the 1980s and worked in Israel, Palestine, Turkey, East and Western Europe, East-and North Africa and Pakistan. Her photo essays have depicted the Youth Movements in Zürich, Nicaragua during war and peace, the situation of the Kurds in Turkey and the Human Rights in Latin America. Her work on the Palestinian Union of Medical Relief Committees was published in Out of Jerusalem, about labor in Schichtwechsel, about the Gotthard mountain in: Gotthard: Das Hindernis verbindet, about Nicaragua from 1984 to 2007 in The Dream of Solentiname, about the Youth Movements in Zürich, Sommer 1980, and El sueno de Solentiname. She is author of several photoessays and her work is present in public and private collections and has been exhibited widely in international Art exhibitions. She instructs students of photography and participates in forums. She lives with her daughter in Zurich, Switzerland.

Political views and activism

Olivia Heussler’s philosophy is to do photojournalism as human rights work inspired by one’s own impulses, e.g. going where one feels one has to go to do one’s work. With her choice of regions and localities, Heussler does not go by media attention, but travels independently, often joining colleagues of other professions, be they foreigners or local activists. This is the method followed in her most acclaimed photojournalist series from Kurdistan, Palestine and Nicaragua.

Solo exhibitions

1986 Nicaragua, Produzentengalerie, Zurich

1987 Nicaragua, Galería Fernando Gordillo, Managua

1988 Nicaragua, Nikon Live Galerie, Zurich

1991 Von Zeit zu Zeit, Galerie Mitte, Dresden

1991 Bildbruchbild, University of Zürich

1993 Out of Jerusalem, Photoforum PasquArt, Bienne

1994 Occupied women, Saint Gervais, Geneva

1995 Occupied women, Months of Photography, Bratislava

1996 Peoples in Zones of Conflict, Zafta Municipality, Haifa
1996 From time to time, Galleria La Rada, Locarno

2002 Vie de femmes, Federal office of migration, Berne

2002 Vie de femmes, Segment gallery Hofburg OSCE, Vienna

2002 Vie des femmes, United Nations Office, Vienna

2003 , Leica Galerie, Bienne

2003 Via Gottardo, Museo nazionale, Ospizio San Gottardo

2009 Der Traum von Solentiname

2010 Zürich, Sommer 1980,, Zurich]

2014 Zurich. Photobastei Zürich

2017 Contres Pouvoirs, Halle au Blé, Altkirch, France

2019 Zurich, the 80s, Swiss Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia

Books published in English

  • Photography Nicaragua 1984-2007, Texts: Sergio Ramirez, Martin Heller and Olivia Heussler in German, English and a textbooklet in Spanish. 220 b/w and color pictures. Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich 2009
  • over 100 b/w photographs. With an essay by Stefan Zweifel, in German and English, Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich 2010
  • , Photography Nicaragua 1984-2007 Texts: Sergio Ramirez, Martin Heller and Olivia Heussler in Spanish and English, 220 b/w and color pictures. UCA-IHNCA, Managua Nicaragua 2010

Examples of photojournalist work by subtitle

In the following photos by Olivia Heussler can be found:
Prohibition of discrimination: Czech Republic, Brno, 1992: "Death for Gipsies!", Guatemala, 1985: During a campaign by a women’s group, formed to help one another, Honduras, Tegucigalpa, April 1984: Honduran military generals during a meeting, Switzerland, Zurich, March 1993: Refugees from Sri Lanka learning German, Protection of private life: Italien, Brindisi, 1992: Police raid in the quarter il Paradiso, The right to work: Pakistan, Quetta, 2001: Three Hazara boys work as carpet weavers 10 hours a day, seven days a week and for $30 a month, Nicaragua, Mulukukú, 1994: Women of the MLO Women’s cooperative are instructed in their carpentry workshop, The Protection of property: Switzerland, Zurich, 1988: Allotment garden, Fair trial and prohibition of torture: Turkey, Ankara, December 1990: Judge Muhittin Mihcak during a trial against three Kurdish lawyers, Guatemala, Guatemala City, 1985: People standing in a public place in front of a list of missing persons, Political rights and freedom of expression: Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: The Roma family Mihai going to vote for the first time, Romania, Sibiu, 20 May 1990: Romani woman Mrs Mihai is going to vote for the first time in 40 years.
Some more contributions in: by Susan Meiselas, New York