Yann Gross

Yann Gross is known for his offbeat documentary photographs that explore diverse communities and subcultures around the world. His subjects have ranged from winners of beard-growing contests in Switzerland to villagers grappling with rapid deforestation in rural Brazil. On a trip to Eastern Africa, Gross—who is also a passionate skateboarder—encountered a group of skaters in Kitintale, Uganda, a suburb of Kampala known for having built the country's first and only half-pipe. Gross became a full-fledged member of the group, even co-organizing the first skateboarding contest in the African Great Lakes region.

In 2010, his series of photographs from Kitintale was exhibited at the Bredaphoto Festival at the Museum Breda in the Netherlands as well as the Photoforum Pasquart in Biel, Switzerland. Gross also published this body of work as the book Kitintale, which was a winner at the Hyères 2010 International Festival of Fashion & Photography and received the Swiss Federal Design Award.