On April 26, 1986 at 1:24 a.m. a disastrous event occurred, the worst technological catastrophe of the modern age, which blighted the lives of millions of people. That night reactor number four of the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded. The explosion unleashed tons of radioactive dust into the air, where,...
Fabio Barile: An Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition, Dissolution and Restoration of Land
Matèria is pleased to present An Investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution and restoration of land, Fabio Barile’s second exhibition at the gallery. The body of work draws its research material from James Hutton’s book ‘Theory of the Earth’, and photographic works such as Timothy O’Sullivan’s ‘Geological...
Sergey Melnitchenko: Behind the Scenes
About his series Sergey says: Transvestites, girls bathing in tubs of beer, drunk actors and even more drunk visitors. All of this – club, the club where I’m working. Passed one year as I came to Asia to work as a dancer. The last few months we perform in one...
Thomas Kern: Haiti. The Perpetual Liberation
A powerful photographic portrait, Haiti: The Perpetual Liberation shows a different, more personal, and therefore also more “ordinary” view of the troubled country that reaches beyond what we think we know about Haiti. Heaven and hell on Earth – Haiti has long been known as a benighted place of poverty...
Franco Sortini: A Neutral Place
In these Franco Sortini's photographs there is a photographic story, but it is a kind of crossover in which photography asks a series of questions about the identity of a place and about the emotional aspect of being in a place. So we find that the images of these cities...
Interview with documentary photographer Aleksey Kondratyev
Aleksey Kondratyev (b. 1993 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) works between Detroit and Central Asia. His work examines the cultural conflation and diversion between the West and post-Soviet spheres of identity. Kondratyev's work has been exhibited at the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, Galleria Foto-Forum in Bolzano, Italy, and FotoFestiwal Lodz in...
Junya Suzuki: An Aesthetic of Everyday Life
Since ancient times, the Japanese have had a unique aesthetic sense referred to as "wabi-sabi". Generally, this style prefers the mundane over the showy, quietude over eloquence, and stillness over movement. However, almost no opportunity to hear about the style exists in modern times. As time goes by, and as...
Frédérick Carnet: The Last First Day
A photographic essay by Frédérick Carnet: First of January 2106. Rügen. An island in northern Germany plunged into a strange atmosphere, post-apocalyptic, that reminds me of the movie The Road (2009, John Hillcoat). And if that day was the last first day of a fragile peace? This photographic essay, like...
Antony Cairns: LA-LV / OSC
Antony Cairns (b.1980) is a British photographer living and working in London, England. He studied Photography at the London College of Printing, graduating in 2002 with first-class honours. He has a profound interest in the history of photography and alternative printing methods and his practice is rooted in chemical-based techniques....