Infrastructure - Bridge Construction - Hoover dam
Projects: Life on the Edge – Formation – Infrastructure
Matt’s Life on the Edge project comments on how we live and affect our environment. The project took Matt to Iceland, the Outer Hebrides (Scotland) and the American Southwest. The images reflect several different and distinct Western societies – those living and working in tight communities in harsh climates and those living alone, while surrounded by urban life.
Whilst in San Francisco, Matt took several portraits of people living on the streets. In Keeler, a town on eastern shore of Owens Lake in Inyo County, California, Matt captured some extraordinary images. Once a mining town, Keeler was deserted after water exports began from the lake for Los Angeles. Eventually, the lake dried up, causing noxious alkali dust storms to blow through Keeler, driving residents away. Few people remain, but their belongings do, slowly being reclaimed by the desert.
While in Iceland, Matt was struck by the planet renewing itself before his eyes. And how time and pressure affect many aspects of life. And so he began Formation, which observes different landscapes, how they were shaped and how they are evolving. Running alongside Life on the Edge, Formation also explores how we live with these environments, how we affect them and how they change us as societies and as individuals.
Also part of the Life on the Edge series, Infrastructure concentrates on the structures we need to build to support our societies, often in bleak environments.
As a people photographer, Matt’s Life on the Edge direction often resulted from the need for change, to be alone for a while, to return refreshed. But it’s interesting that even whilst craving solitude, he is still interested in humanity.
Matt has two current projects. Node to Node, a study into the human web and the idea of the six degrees of separation. A series of portraits, each ‘node’ nominates the next, so the choice of subject is out of Matt’s hands. Mind the Gap is a project considering the disparity between rich and poor people and how this affects society in the UK.
The education inequality gap between children of differing economic backgrounds widens during middle school and expands increasingly thereafter. Do we mind the gap?
The widening mortality gap between social classes persists. For women this is currently 11%. Should we mind the gap?
