Cherche RADIUMINEUSE is a photographic exploration of a little-known facet of Swiss industrial history: the contribution and fate of women workers known as ‘Radiumineuses’.
Between the early 1920s and the late 1960s, hundreds of women workers applied radium-based phosphorescent paint to watch dials and hands, enabling them to tell the time in the dark. For years, they repeated the same meticulous gestures, handling the radioactive substance without adequate protection. The bodies of these women, and sometimes those of their loved ones, were thus exposed to serious or even irreversible health risks. Invisibilised by history, many of these workers saw their health sacrificed for the benefit of an industry that today remains a symbol of Swiss excellence.
By assembling photographs, archive documents and reproductions of found contaminated objects, Aline Bovard Rudaz presents us with both an investigation and a tribute, rehabilitating the memory of the Radiumineuses. Cherche RADIUMINEUSE invites us to reflect on resilience, justice and the recognition of people who have been erased from official accounts.
Aline Bovard Rudaz
Aline Bovard Rudaz is a Swiss photographer based in Geneva. She studied photography at the CEPV (Centre d’enseignement professionnel de Vevey). Through her artistic practice, she sees images as witnesses capable of conveying the concerns of her generation. For her, photography is a sensitive means of tackling the social, intimate and taboo issues of our society. She is particularly interested in forgotten histories, especially those relating to women's lives.
