Biography

Freelance French photographer Matthieu Chazal (born in 1975) is graduated in geography, philosophy and journalism. Reporter at « Sud Ouest » newspaper (Bordeaux, France), then photographer, he contributed to periodicals (Politis, France ; El Mundo, Spain...). With a documentary project about Gypsies inTurkey, he participated in group and personal exhibitions in France and Turkey (Musée de l'immigration, Paris ;Hafriyat Gallery, Istanbul...).
For the last years he travels around the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and its wide surroundings. He uses anologic black and white photography, which fits with his unhurried journeys, to show the daily life in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East. Taking in all directions the paths of the first and most recent migrations, which are also the meeting points between East and West, he captures simple moments and seismic events. He realizes series of « Chronicles », enriched year after year, exhibited in France, Italy, Bulgaria... For this long-winded work, he received in 2019 the Albert Kahn Museum Grant.
In parallel, he realizes a documentary project about rurality in Charente, France. It is in this remote region, where he grew up, that he does his work in the darkroom.
Lastly, he organizes photographic workshops with radical Islamist detainees for a rehabilitation programme at the prison of Gradignan, France.

Matthieu is represented by Hegoa Gallery, Paris.

Awards and grants
Laureate: Albert Kahn Museum Grant 2019
Shortlist: Roger Pic Grant 2019
Shortlist: Felix Schoeller Photo Award 2019

Exhibitions
Chronicles from the Levant - Hegoa Gallery - Paris 2020
Chronicles from the Levant - Promenades photographiques de Vendôme, France 2019
The Lady with a Flowery Dress and other chronicles from the Caucasus – Phodar Biennal, Sofia, Bulgaria - 2019
Chronicles from the Levant – Festival Barrobjectif, France - 2018
Chronicles from the Levant - VOHH Foto Fest, Chittagong, Bangladesh - 2018
Chronicles from the Levant - Nuits noires photographiques, Bordeaux, France – 2018
"Mo[t]us Operandi" - Collective exhibition about migration - Contemporary Art Biennal, Palermo, Italy - 2018
The Lady with a Flowery Dress and other chronicles from the Caucasus - Festival Barrobjectif, France – 2017
Chronicles from Iran - Festival Barrobjectif, France – 2017
The Lady with a Flowery Dress and other chronicles from the Caucasus - Mercredis photographiques, Bordeaux, France – 2016
In Limbo - Series about refugee camps in Greece - La Cuisine Gallery, Bordeaux, France – 2016
Cingene ! (Gypsies !)- FotoIstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey – 2014
The Apprentices - Series about young farmers - Festival Barrobjectif, France – 2014
Farmers’ horizons - Series about rurality exhibited in Poitou-Charente Region, France - 2012/2013
Cingene ! (Gypsies !) - Hafriyat Gallery, collective exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey – 2011
Cingene ! (Gypsies !) - Bilgi University, collective exhibition, Istanbul, Turkey – 2010
Gypsies from Turkey - Festival Est-Ouest, Die, France – 2009
Gypsies from Turkey - Immigration Museum, Paris, France – 2009
Gypsies from Turkey - Elele Center, Migrations and Cultures from Turkey - Paris, France – 2009
Senegalese Wrestling - Maison de l'Afrique, Paris, France – 2007

Publications
Chroniques from the Orient - 9Lives Magazine, France - 2019
Chroniques from the Orient - L'Autre Quotidien, France - 2019
Migrations et sociétés – Les Cours du Collège de France, website of France Culture radio channel – 2018, 2019
Mosul, After the Battle - The Eye of Photography – 2018
Migration, the Balkans road - Der Greif Magazine- Germany – 2018
Orient - Chronicles - Armenian newspaper Agos - Turkey – 2017
Anatolian trail - Out of Eden Walk - National Geographic – 2015
Sulukule, mémoire en ruines - Politis - France – 2009
Senegalese Wrestling - El Mundo - Spain - 2008

Contact

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