Artist
Matthieu Croizier
Matthieu Croizier (1994) is an artist and freelance photographer based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He graduated from the Photography School of Vevey (CEPV) in 2017 and from the Bachelor Photography at ECAL in 2020.
Using photography as a tool, he tries to turn reality into fantasy, or the other way around, and to blur the line that separates what is considered normal from what is not. In his work, he is mainly interested in the representation of the human body and seeks the tension between opposing notions, as the friction from beauty to ugly, from fascination to repulsion or from ordinary to spectacular. He is one of the laureates of the Carte Blanche Students 2020, organized by Paris Photo, Picto Foundation and SNCF Gare & Connexions.
Everything goes dark a little further down
This project investigates the concept of ordinary monstrosity, unravelling the boundaries between what is thought of as normal and abnormal, using the body as a primary material. As a starting point, I examined the construction of monstrosity throughout history, from the invention of hysteria in the 19th century to the role of freak shows, where staging was essential and images were manipulated to play a vital role in reinforcing the norm. Even today, it’s fascinating how we hold on to binary ideas of beauty, actively distinguishing between what is normal and abnormal, sick and healthy, beautiful and ugly. I wanted to blur these ideas with this work, to show that monstrosity exists within us all and that it is a concept that has been shaped and constructed over time.
Through self-representation, I seek to fabricate monstrosity out of simple things surrounding me, to embrace it rather than to reject it. I have always identified with freaks, feeling othered by my queerness, and this idea of claiming my own monstrosity really helped me become who I am. This project represents for me the materialization of a long inner journey that I have had to go through since I was a teenager. It is a love letter to the abnormal, a renunciation of being normal.
In reference to medical or anatomical iconography, I try to deconstruct normative representations of the body. To what extent is a body a body, and how can it free itself from the norms that constrain it? The photographs depict an extraordinary act of metamorphosis, where fragments are melded together to create something new. Despite the spectacular aesthetics of the images, it is just a show of banalities and the monstrosity, which seems disturbing at first, ends up revealing its own construction.
London-based Sophie Gladstone produces refreshingly honest work about her pursuit of cultural capital, through considered still lifes and self-portraits. She draws attention to society’s obsession with performance and perception of success, honing in on details of daily rituals and consumerism. Gladstone curates a duality in her aesthetic, which many might recognise and relate to in appreciation or distaste.
Studies in Huddersfield brought Silvana Trevale to the UK from Venezuela, where she was born and raised. Though the photographer has already seen notable success with her commercial work, her personal projects deserve equal recognition. Her ongoing series, Venezuelan Youth, captures the younger generation of her home country with a warmth that contrasts the social and political crisis currently unfolding there.
Billy Barraclough is a recent graduate from the MA photography course at University of the West of England, Bristol. In his tender black and white documentary projects, he captures moments of quiet contemplation with captivating sensitivity. The fact that he approaches his practice from a personal perspective is a token of his understanding of human connection and communication.
Another recent graduate, Tayo Adekunle completed a BA at Edinburgh College of Art this year. Placing herself in front of the camera lens, she directly confronts
photography’s dark history by recreating 19th century images of sensationalised Black bodies. Her work is as much an interrogation of dehumanisation, as a personal exploration of her culture, ancestry and inherited trauma.
Swiss photographer Matthieu Croizier completes our 2021 nominations. Taking inspiration from a variety of sources, which ranges from 19th century medical archives to David Lynch’s 1977 horror sci-fi Eraserhead, he uses his lens to explore queerness and his experience of it. For Croizier, photography gives him the space to understand his identity, the language of the queer community, and all the superficial social constructs that have been connected to them over time. It is an act of self-expression – literally and figuratively.