Mathias Depardon
About
Born in 1980 in Nice, Mathias Depardon grew up between France, Belgium and the United States. After studying journalism and communication in Brussels, he briefly joined the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir before devoting himself to reportage and documentary photography.
Mathias Depardon tends towards a documentary approach which is part of a temporality favoring immersion in subjects revealing important socio-economic and political questions in territories under tension such as Turkey and Iraq where he questions in particular the idea of identity and territory. Through portraits, landscapes, Mathias Depardon probes a Turkey torn between modernization at all costs and reminiscence of Ottoman values. It is in these remote border places that we fully understand the great changes that are shaking the country.
In 2017, after living in Turkey for five years, he was arrested in Hasankeyf in south-eastern Turkey while reporting for National Geographic magazine on the issue of water in Mesopotamia, a subject to which Mathias has been dedicated since 2012. He was released and then expelled from the country in June 2017.
This year he is the finalist of the Grand Prix of Documentary Photography in Sète (Imags Singulières / Mediapart). His photographs have been exhibited in several institutions such as the National Library of France (BNF, Paris) and more recently at the National Archives Museum in Paris during its TransAnatolia exhibition. In 2018 he was exhibited at the Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles as part of the exhibition Une Colonne de Fumée.
Exhibitions:
2019-Singular Images. Tales From the Land in Between. Solo show. Sete; France
2018- Jimei X Arles International Photo Festival. A Pillar of Smoke. Group show. Xiamen, China
2018 - The Arles Meetings. A column of smoke. Arles, France
2017 - TransAnatolia National Archives Museum. Paris, France
2017 - Rule-Breakers The Exhibition Gold Rivers. London, England
2017 - The Arles Meetings. Screening of Gold Rivers. Arles, France
2016 - Just Another Photo Festival. The Wild West. Varanasi, India
2016 - Tianshui Photography Biennial. Postcards from The Black Sea. Tianshui, China
2015 - Foto Istanbul Festival. Postcards from The Black Sea. Istanbul, Türkiye
2015 - French Institute of Istanbul. Postcards from The Black Sea. Türkiye 2015
2014 - Transcontinent/Obscura Photo Festival. Postcards from The Black Sea. Penang, Malaysia
2013 - Mahal Cultural Center. Beyond The Borders. Cannakale, Türkiye
2013 - French Institute of Istanbul. Beyond The Borders. Istanbul, Türkiye
2012 - Hannover Young Photojournalism Festival. Beyond The Borders. Hannover, Germany
2012 - Dust and Scratches Gallery. Collective exhibition. Beyond The Borders. Moscow, Russia
2011 - National Library of France. Talent Scholarship. Beyond The Borders. Paris, France
2011 - Press Scoop Greater Lille. Collective exhibition. An Arab Spring. Lille, France
2011 - Visa for the Image. Paris Match. Collective exhibition. Arab Spring. Perpignan, France
2011 - Cervantes Institute. Revolutions. New York, USA
Scholarships and competitions:
2018- CNAP. Support for Documentary and Contemporary Photography. Nominated. Paris, France
2018 - Singular Image Grand Prize ETPA Mediapart. Finalist. Sete, France
2016 - Gd4Photoart Award by MAST Foundation. Nominated/pre-selected. Bologna, Italy
2011 - International Photography Awards. Honorable mention. Reporting. Los Angeles, USA
2011 - Talent/Reportage Grant. Winner. Paris, France
2010 - International Photography Awards. Honorable mention. Reporting. Los Angeles, USA
Residential homes :
2016-Docking Station. Amsterdam, Holland
2016-Tianshui Photography Biennale. Xinjiang. China
2011- Eddie Adams Workshop XXIV. New York, USA