Our readers picks #269 both place mankind at the heart of their works. Mathilde Bergès focuses on our charming imperfections, while George Voronov studies the link between Man and spirituality.
Mathilde Bergès
“At the start of the digital age, around 15 years ago, I acquired my first reflex. I immediately had the feeling that photography had become the prolongation of my gaze, my thoughts, my creativity”,
Mathilde Bergès tells us. Based in Toulouse, the artist is now focusing on a pictorial aesthetics, inspired by the chiaroscuros of great painters, and Man’s sensitivity. “I like the light perfectly caressing the face and body of a model, this indoor light that can be found near a window when it is raining outside, and the shadows surrounding it”, she adds. Fascinated by the relation between a person and their body, the photographer tries to seize imperfections with elegance. “The way we look at our own body can sometimes feel very harsh. And I am seeking this weakness. Sometimes I’d find it in a gaze, or a curve one doesn’t really like… I try to help my subjects appreciate this fragility”, she explains. A very delicate work.
© Mathilde Bergès
George Voronov
“How I got into photography? It’s a bit of a mad story. When I was 15 I won a competition and got to join an expedition to the Arctic Circle. While on the expedition, we were mentored by scientists and artists of different disciplines. As it happened, I was particularly drawn to photography. The photographer on that trip was extremely patient with me”
, says Dublin-based George Voronov. Now attracted to spirituality, evolution, and the notion of “growing up”, the artist is developing a documentary and rather conceptual approach. “I’m obsessed with the duality between the real and the surreal within photography” he tells us. We became everything, a contemplative and sensitive series, deals with the spiritual and religious experiences of young people. To produce it, George visited several communities from Ireland. “Spotting surreal and uncanny moments within the ‘real world’ became a type of spiritual experience in which layers of the ordinary world were peeled back to reveal fragments of mysterious beauty”, he tells us. By blending together two universes, the photographer has built a metaphorical project, mixing fleeting and philosophical moments, and uncovering the sublime within the banal.
© George Voronov
Cover picture: © Mathilde Bergès
