Fashion nominee

Herencias

[Spanish, noun, plural]: Heritage

Heritage is a wide and polysemous concept. In this project, it refers to the idea of a dialogue between different cultures with distinct cultural heritages.

On a personal note, the source of this heritage is dual: French and Colombian. A fascinating dual identity that is nonetheless difficult to grasp. On a more global note, I have found myself interested in another dialogue, this time between a specific dual cultural heritage that is present in the Andean South America.

This heritage is present in an aesthetic movement marked by religiosity, called the Quito School of Art. Traditional Spanish catholic art travelled on board of Christopher Colombus’ ships and landed in South America, where it met and mingled with original aesthetics specific to various indigenous people. This appropriation can later be found in the work coming out of the Quito School of Art, where those unprecedented patterns and colour schemes are used to depict catholic subjects.

My work explores this visual contamination, keeping the religious theme but this time putting the emphasis on the colours and patterns inspired by indigenous communities hailing from Colombia, such as the Wayúu from the Guajira Desert area.

Mathias has-been an image-maker since 2016. He began his formal training studying social geography in Paris. After completing his master degree, his career took a turn, discovering cinema and photography as the right means to express himself.

Mathias went on learning fundamental movie-making skills at the École de cinéma et de télévision de Québec, in Quebec City, Canada. While working in visual production as, at times, light technician, short-film director or photographer, Mathias keeps refining his skills and knowledge by attending an advance training in professional photography in Montreal.

A tireless worker, Mathias works on a variety of movie and TV productions where is reputation as a trustworthy collaborator precedes him. He is also a managing member of Le Trou Noir, a Montreal-based organisation dedicated to the craft of analog photography.

Nowadays, Mathias is dedicating his energy and creativity to photography. Fascinated by the poetry of the everyday life, his eyes often wander toward the humanity lying in everything, even the most commun. Street photography inherited of humanist photography and documentaries have a fundamental influence on his work.



Awards
2020, Finaliste Head On Photo Festival, Portrait
2020, Prix d'Excellence CFP Lachine
2020, Coup de Coeur CAPIC for Herencias