Matthew Stevenson

www.matt-stevenson.co.uk
matt.stevenson@live.co.uk

Statement

'Future Perfect', a grammatical term used to describe an event that has not yet happened but is expected to occur in the future.

The majority of all photographs stem from the single desire to recognise and to boast, they represent a past event, a fleeting moment that the camera has the ability to record and therefore immortalise. The Future Perfect series looks at photography's role in social documentation and as a tool in social reform. The images appropriate a culture's vision, presenting the viewer with a number of scenarios that turn what is seen into a spectacle, therefore allowing the viewer to embody their own culture and recognise themselves within each scene.

The price tags remaining on items within the scenes emphasize a future of constantly changing codes of meaning, a future that can only be consumed and never owned. The scenarios address the viewpoint of the viewer and take into account what Jacques Lacan termed the 'Ego-Ideal', creating a fiction where the viewer is able to look at themselves as if from an ideal point and create an impossibly unified self.

Matthew is a conscientious and well-motivated individual. Recently graduated from a BA (Hons) degree in Photography at Nottingham Trent University, his practical experience is broad; including over 4 years of studio experience along with a wide of location shoots working under strict deadlines. All supported with a sound knowledge of processing and printing both film and digital.

Exhibitions

• Free Range 09 – The Old Trueman Brewery, London – 2009
• PhotoRadar Festival – P.Spowage Art Gallery, Nottingham – 2009
• Speaking Through Images – Chameleon Cafe, Nottingham – 2008
• Foundation diploma exhibition – City College, Southampton – 2005

Work

• Perspektiv Red – promotional advertising – 09
• Hare & Hounds Inn – promotional advertising – 09
• Neptune Studios – assisting – 06/09
• CVI International – Car advertising – 06/07

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Photography – Nottingham Trent University – pending

• Merit – Art & Design Foundation Diploma – City College Southampton

• A – Art – Sleaford Joint 6th Form
• B – Graphic Design – Sleaford Joint 6th Form
• C – Physics – Sleaford Joint 6th Form
• C – I.T – Sleaford Joint 6th Form