Rosa Canina
Mathilda Olmi
Nominated by
Centre de la photographie Genève
For centuries, women's bodies have largely been painted by - and for - men. Without even realising it, the images we see become embedded in us and shape the way we see the world. Mathilda Olmi is addressing this topic with the aim to contribute to renewing these iconographies. She asked her models about their relationship with their own bodies. Moving far away from artificially sensual poses, Mathilda Olmi was able to emphasise the individuality of each person through postures and gestures, almost like an improvised dance in front of the camera. The natural light reveals the details and particularities of each person, far beyond the clichés conveyed by advertising or the media. The still lifes that punctuate this series are both pauses and markers of everyday life, and also make reference to ecofeminist theories that link the exploitation of nature to the oppression of women and gender minorities by men. The dog rose (Rosa Canina), a thorny, tenacious wild plant favoured by witches, is a militant echo of the photographer's artistic statement.
No items found.
The Artist
Mathilda Olmi
Nominated in
2023
By
Centre de la photographie Genève
Lives and Works in
Lausanne, Switzerland
Mathilda Olmi is a photographer based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she develops personal projects and is active as a portrait photographer for the media and cultural institutions. Her work as an artist is articulated around issues relating to ecology, agriculture and feminism. It often deals with the position of women in Western society and the representation of femininity, intimacy, home and maternity. She harnesses lyricism and poetry to portray political issues and positions, and to counter the violence of the world with a sense of wonder.
She graduated from the Vevey School of Photography (CEPV) in 2015. Her work has been exhibited regularly, primarily in Switzerland, since 2014. It has been part of group shows at Musée d’art de Pully (Switzerland, 2023), Festival Images (Vevey, 2014 & 2020), Photo Elysée (Lausanne, 2022), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, 2023), Ferme-Asile (Sion, Switzerland, 2021), Photoforum Pasquart (Biel, Switzerland, 2015), Verzasca Foto Festival (Switzerland, 2021) and Festival international de mode, de photographie et d’accessoires (Hyères, France, 2022), among others. She has had three solo shows in Lausanne, in a gallery and two independent art spaces, between 2015 and 2022. Her work is part of the collection of Photo Elysée (Lausanne). She has published two monographs with the French publishing house FP&CF: "A bird in the hand" in 2017 and most recently "Rosa Canina" in 2022. She was selected for the Enquête photographique valaisanne [photography survey of the Canton Valais] in 2021 and was awarded a grant for emerging artists by Pro Helvetia in 2020.
More projects by this artist
2024
Resilientia
"Dark green leaves, the branch of a fruit tree standing out against a lighter green. A barefoot toddler strolling, like a tightrope walker on bare ground. A greenhouse letting out green meshes bursting with the promise of spring. Images like a manifesto of the living, the subtle, the precise. A future is taking shape, with ways of doing and being which are spreading everywhere. Mathilda Olmi spent a year following this couple of pioneers from the 20s of this second millennium. Their names are Diane Waber and Hubert de Kalbermatten, and for several years they have been creating a forest garden in the heart of the Rhône Valley, not far from the St Léonard quarry. [...] Belonging to the degrowth movement, they are part of a resistance against a world overtaken by overconsumption and overproduction, opting for other ways to farm: permaculture, no machinery, no ploughing, no chemicals, relying on the allies around them: chickens, sheep, plants growing together, pledging above all to not exhaust the earth, take care of its rhythms, its breathing needs. Each moment is important, appreciated for what it is, not for what it will become. The photographer's view of this universe has no beginning and no end, and reflects the infinite cycle of life and its transformations, a continuous metamorphosis that can be seen in this sensitive series of still images."
Text by Florence Grivel, translated from French
Similar projects by everyone else
