MATHIEU CLADIDIER SPEAKS ABOUT HIS RECENT EXHIBITION WITH PHOTOCARREFOUR
Mathieu Cladidier is a French Photographer and Teacher living and working in New-York, USA. In this email correspondence, Mathieu speaks about his recent exhibition at this year’s Photocarrefour Exhibition “Year of the Pandemic”. Mathieu speaks about himself, his work as a photographer and a school teacher, his Style, as well as his published book.
Mathieu exhibited an 8*12 inches’ photo print of a Lady siting at a bus stop in New York City. It’s a black and white image taken from behind revealing a panel on the right side of the image on which is a art line of a portrait of a female nurse, masked up, with words “Thank you” in honor of the Health Care workers at the frontline of the pandemic, which he called “Mask up, New York”. The lady seated at the Bus stop is also wearing a mask. “Loneliness, longing or looking for empty space or missing pieces, is something I seem to be attracted to” he adds. Read more in the interview below
Mathieu’s works is showing at the Photocarrefour Gallery, Duplex 16, Mabushi Ultra Modern Complex, Jahi, Abuja
1. Hello Mathieu! You are French photographer and Teacher living and working in New York. Can you tell us about yourself, your journey in photography and your work? Describe to us your work and yourself.
Bonjour. You’re right, I am a French photographer and teacher who lives now in New York. I arrived in 2018. I’ve worked abroad since 2012 and have lived in different places: Stockholm, San Francisco, Sydney, and now New York. My job is teaching in French schools abroad but photography is taking up more and more space in my life. I started photography to document my life abroad for my family and then it expanded to different projects, locals and in France when I get back. Photography for me, helps to get a sense of where you live, to understand another culture by being a witness and by reflecting on the photos you take. When I arrived in New York, I started to take a lot of street photography and it helped me understand the place, the people and the culture better. I turned it into a little book and it was fun.
2. Your images are mostly black and white images taken around New York and may have a somber mood. Can you tell us more about your choice and what was it like documenting the Corona pandemic in New-York?
Thank you for the feedback, I didn’t notice this somber mood but it is probably the reflection of our time. I decided to shoot in BW because I was at the time using films (Trix 400 or HP5) and I developed my own photos. As an esthetic choice, I like BW because it feels more timeless and I think it enhances the subject or the composition. It’s like looking at life without any distraction (from the colors), you’re getting to the bare bone of the image.
The pandemic in New York was, and still is, terrible. I feel like we are still living in the first wave of the virus, even if we opened more things. My school is still open but we use a very strict sanitary protocol. As I was wandering the street during the pandemic, the emptiness resonates a lot in my photos. It was a whole new experience to be in New York during these days.
3. Some of your images have interesting qualities of loneliness or longing for something missing. For instance, the image “on the train” with a small boat ducked by a body of water and your image “Table for 2”, can you tell us more about these images?
Loneliness, longing or looking for empty space or missing pieces, is something I seem to be attracted to. I noticed, unconsciously, that it is a theme I repeat in my images. I like to capture some moments where people are “lost” in their thoughts while in the middle of a crowd or out in the streets. We all work hard to keep these moments for us but at some points it’s like the subconscious takes over and we “let go “and show ourselves in a social environment. I like these moments of truth, of unmasked personality. These paradoxical behaviors speak to me I guess.
The two photos your mentioned are an example of that. The boat along the railroad is an odd detail I picked up while I was going for a short trip to upstate New York. The moment was odd but then when you look at the picture, you are wondering what is going on. I like these two steps in my photos (when I nailed it), an odd detail that can unveil a whole story. “Table for two” is the same idea of an empty table calling for people to join and be together during a time of social distancing. I think that the somber mood, that you noticed at first, is also a call for happiness and to go further than the picture and complete what’s missing, what’s longing.
4. Is there anything else you would like to add about your work and what do you hope people feel from seeing your works?
My work is still a … work in progress. I am still trying to figure out my voice, what I have to say in this world of images. I keep exploring different possibilities photographically. For instance, my last project “Poetic of the Mundane” was about surrealism, reflections and colors that you can find in every day’s situation. I am interested by this process, and I want people to “follow me” on that path. When I share photos, on IG for instance, it is mostly for people to see details of our everyday life that we sometimes overlook and that can make all the difference. I am training my gaze to look at details, little things. I want to extract the beauty of the mundane.
Thank you for selecting my photos and for putting together this great exhibition.
More photos and projects by Mathieu here:
http://www.mathieucladidier.com/
My street photography book I mentioned can be purchase here:
https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Mathieu-CLADIDIER
To see the exhibition visit:
