About: Mathieu Asselin’s work is characteristic of a shift towards conceptual documentary practices that have expanded beyond the convention- al documentary tropes of eyewitness reporting and photorealism Asselin’s approach is based on long-term research and employs a variety of visual and communicative that he weaves into multi-layered narratives in each of his projects. Through the use of accessible media such as newspaper printing, affordable exhibitions, and free digital access to his publications, to name a few, allows his work to reach a broader audience that extends far beyond the art world, museums, galleries, and private viewings.

This approach allows for widespread dissemination, as is common in scientific research, and is a testament to the public’s desire to engage with the issues. At the heart of Asselin’s work is the need to make a clear statement about the is- sues he represents, “I have a story to tell, and the photographs are the result of that, not the other way around.” His projects are often counter-designs to the corporate status quo and its impact on our daily lives. Power structures, ma- nipulation of facts, greenwashing, the dynamics of corporate influence, social and environmental violence are the pressing and time- sensitive issues. Asselin’s work focuses on matters that challenge our contemporary reality.

Asselin can be classified as a social activist and belongs to a generation of artists who work with documentary strategies, questioning their own position. His doubts are an expression of self-knowledge and reflexivity. He undertakes what can be seen as an extension of journalistic investigative practices, adopting their impulses and ethics, but independent of the news media or alignment with public or private structures.

This means that all decisions in his projects: exhibitions, publications or even the marketing strategies of his work preserve the integrity of the author. While the ethical framework of photo- journalism demands journalistic impartiality, Asselin enjoys the creative freedom that the artistic approach offers him. He hesitates to speak of his work as a representation of the truth, as it always reflects the perspective of the narrator; instead, he applies a researched and fact-based representations of the issues, but is transparent about his position, allowing a personal view of the subject to become an essential part of the work’s outcome.

Asselin describes his practice as socially, environmentally, and politically engaged, and emphasizes that he wants to use photography to construct a different narrative of familiar issues in which power structures and the systems that sustain them are brought to light. For him, artistic means are important in framing questions that might not otherwise be asked. “The important thing about art is the potential it gives you to tell stories, nuanced, layered, complicated stories.”

Sergio Valenzuela Escobedo. Curator.

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Positions

2018–current Guest Professor at KASK and Royal Conservatory / School of Arts, University College, Ghent, Belgium

2019-current Member of the Redaction Committee, Disclose.ngo, Paris, France www.disclose.ngo

2019-current Co-funder, DoubleDummy, Arles, France www.doubledummystudio.com

Education

2017 École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (ENSP), MFA in photography with highest honor, Arles, France

Gallery

The Ravestijn Gallery Westerdok 824, 1013 BV Amsterdam, Netherlands +31 20 530 6000 /jasper@theravestijngallery.com / www.theravestijngallery.com