synopsis
Matthieu Gafsou seeks coherence in the incoherence of a country, Tunisia, creating photographs for the series “Surfaces”. Torn between the desire of Western modernity and comforts, and the utilisation of a habitat with traditional appearances, the buildings and neighbourhoods that he photographs, tell tales of the façade and the skilfully managed exoticism of the environment. The contradictory phenomenon that is put into his work, under the smooth layers of a maintained and fantasised reality, is also the possible reflection of the incapacity to capture the world. The desire and the regard aim for the transformation and the recreation of those places which are rich with illusions.”
- Olivier Saillard
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technical information
Editor : Actes Sud
2009
hardcover
102 pages, 44 color illustrations
dimensions : 22,7 x 28,6 cm
languages : english / french
2009
hardcover
102 pages, 44 color illustrations
dimensions : 22,7 x 28,6 cm
languages : english / french
about Matthieu Gafsou
Matthieu Gafsou (CH, F, 1981) lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. After obtaining a master's degree in philosophy, literature and cinema at the University of Lausanne, he studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Vevey. Since 2006, Gafsou has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, and has published six books. In 2009, Gafsou received the “HSBC Foundation Award for Photography" and was subsequently invited to contribute to the reGeneration2 exhibition created by the Musée de l'Elysée. In 2014, the same museum produced the solo exhibition Only God Can Judge Me. In 2018, the H+ exhibition is one of the highlights of the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles and then travels around the world (China, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, etc.). In 2022, the project Vivants is presented in extenso at the Pully museum and at Paris Photo where Gafsou wins the Ruinart prize. Gafsou has been teaching for several years at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL). He is also a founding member of the MAPS agency.
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Editor : Actes Sud
2009 (1st edition)
2009 (1st edition)