Matthew Cox
MLitt Fine Art practice
Glasgow School of Art
Specialisms: Photography
Location: Carlisle, United Kingdom
Matthew Cox
First Name: Matthew
Last Name: Cox
Specialisms: Photography
Sectors:
My Location: Carlisle, United Kingdom
University / College: Glasgow School of Art
Course / Program Title: MLitt Fine Art practice
About
Matthew Cox (B.1997, Carlisle) is a Cumbria-based photographer/artist whose work examines
the stories and narratives hidden within our natural landscape. Investigating the land and exploring
the stories and narratives hidden within our natural landscape. Investigating the land and exploring
the visual possibilities of the analog medium are common themes. A variety of photographic processes have been explored including, silver gelatin prints, lithography, Chromogentic printing, and pinhole photography.
Redacted Landscapes is an alternative perspective on the Isle of Arran. The images are a product of cycling around the island and taking an image every 15 minutes regardless of scenic value or compositional worthiness. The ‘redacting’ is twofold, first is the act of relinquishing total photographic control, the passage of time and the speed, headwind and gradient onboard the bicycle is the real image selector. The second reductionist element is found within the prints. Darkroom photographic prints are presumed to be a sea of dense black plus brilliant white, a choreographed display of full tonality. The prints presented here, like the image capture methods, are of alternate motives. The tonal range has been vastly reduced, shadows lightened to reveal what is near and highlight detail discarded to obscure what is far. For me, images that abandon the ‘grand vista’ and embrace the intangible are those most provocative. Through this systematic form of image-making, the deadpan is paired with the coincidental, the trivial paired with intriguing perspectives. The landscape, when traveled through gradually, felt expansive and, to me, revealed an everyday beauty.
Competitions
