SIYU personal

Thirteen years ago, personal reasons led her from Hefei, Yangzi Delta near Shanghai, to Valais. Today, Weina Venetz  (born in 1982), who studied English and literature in China, lives in Brig-Glis. She says: "Valais is my home. My love of nature and culture made me decide to stay here." For Weina, photography is an essential means of expression with which she explores, experiences and reflects on her environment. She has been a freelance photographer since 2014.

Today, she is active in a wide variety of photographic fields. Weina's cultural background forms an important part of her past, but her focus is on the present and the future. She also devotes herself to calligraphy, which she uses as an artistic medium for selected themes. In addition, she is a singer in various jazz ensembles.

What is your latest project? There is the project on the tradition of Valaisan traditional costume – a selection of my portraits of the Zermatt Traditional Costume Association appeared on the front page of the Walliser Bote newspaper. I am also working on my abstract series ‘Visual Poetry from a Valais Garden’, photographing portraits for posters, brochures and websites, accompanying festivals, projects and companies, and participating in various exhibitions. 

Have you ever taken photographs in China? Yes, that's where I started taking photographs. My photography colleagues worked in both advertising and documentary photography and also dealt with social issues through their photography. That impressed me. Shortly afterwards, I bought my first Sony DSLR with a 50 mm f/1.4 lens.

Are you self-taught – learning by doing? I only started taking photography seriously in Switzerland. Books, tutorials and films helped me get started in photography – initially with nature and concert photography, as I love both nature and music. Later, I added portraits and project, corporate and festival reports. I received my first commissions after photographing cultural events privately. Since 2014, I have been the official photographer for the Frauenstimmen Festival. This year, the canton of Valais awarded the festival its culture prize.

At the beginning of 2024, I started a higher education course in photography and am now no longer exclusively self-taught. I am glad I took this step. The course not only teaches us practical skills in photography, but also theoretical, cultural, aesthetic and ethical perspectives.

What does nature mean to you and how do you translate this into your photographs? I see myself as a cell in the organism of nature, which shapes and nourishes me. In my series ‘Visual Poetry from a Valais Garden’, I share my exploration of nature and the inspiration I draw from it – in a philosophical and spiritual sense.

Can you tell us something about calligraphy and how you apply it in photography? Consciously or unconsciously, calligraphy has probably influenced my sense of aesthetics and composition, movement and balance in photography. Today, I practise it primarily as a form of meditation and use it as a method of artistic expression. The strict rules of calligraphy are no longer important to me, but rather what I can explore with it. 

Which photographers inspire you? Sebastião Salgado inspires me with his deep humanism and commitment to the environment. Irving Penn fascinates me with his simple and precise composition, his technical perfection and the timeless quality of his photography.

What do you expect from your membership with SIYU? I am looking forward to learning from other photographers, discovering new projects and expanding my network.