In Fiction - Brave New World
2012 - 2015
Unadorned Sets
Would you still recognize the sets of Game of Thrones, Indiana Jones, and The Affair without their characters? How well do movie sets replicate the places they’re inspired by? After going through the set of Sergio Leone movies in Andalusia, Mathieu Drouet photographed places tied to works of fiction during his trips to Louisiana (USA), Newfoundland (Canada), the Tabernas Desert (Spain), and Ghent (Belgium). With the house where the Amityville murders happened (which is not where the movies were shot), the set of The Hunger Games, a plantation in Louisiana, a statue of Superman - this series blurs the lines between reality and fiction, the spectacular and the memorable. While some locations are easily identifiable, others merely confirm the power that fictional stories have over our perception of the ordinary.
Tiny Roads
July 2020 - September 2021
Paths of Constraint
The contours of ’Tiny Roads’ follow the lockdown perimeter established in the province of Valencia at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the summer of 2020, Mathieu Drouet captured the slower pace of life: closed factories, empty beaches, resorts without tourists, visible signs of the pandemic, along with the pockets of freedom he found within the sanitary restrictions, from stays at a local luxury hotel to gatherings at secluded villas with a small social circle: his partner and close friends.
The lockdown measures in Valencia created the frame of a limited perimeter. The images capture the city and its surroundings, emptied of residents and tourists, but also life in private villas and the sense of melancholic fantasy that hotels provide to locals.
Sudan
fevrier 2004
Between the Second and Third Cataracts of the Nile
In 2004, Mathieu Drouet crossed paths with Francis Geus, archaeologist and head of the Egyptology Department at University of Lille III. As an intern, he traveled to Sudan with an archaeological safeguarding mission on the Island of Saï and in Nubia, where Sudanese and Europeans collaborate, and where the remains of different eras coexist, from post-Egyptian civilizations to medieval societies. The photographer captured scenes of camp life, landscapes of the Nile, and the excavation work at UNESCO sites, as well as official visits, the wildlife in the Pharaonic sites, and the daily life of the populations around the site. The images taken during this journey were forgotten for fifteen years, only to be rediscovered in 2020 with a more seasoned eye.
Burnout
2015
Attempt to Exhaust the American Dream
For few weeks, Mathieu Drouet and his partner Agathe Vuachet travel through the United States by train and car. With the sole constraint of spending Halloween in New Orleans, where they would attend a voodoo ceremony, this journey far from the major tourist attractions deconstructs Americana and tells the story of the United States just before the 2016 election of Donald Trump. From Chicago to Louisiana and from Memphis to Virginia, the images in Burnout depict Americans’ relationship to veterans, religion, leisure, and natural disasters, by deconstructing the cultural layers that make up the American Dream, but rarely illustrating the American Dream itself.
Laurence
Juillet 2010 - Septembre 2023
Lace Dust
At a time when she’s questioning her romantic life, love, and commitment, Laurence finds her mother’s wedding dress in her parents’ cellar. She decides to try on the garment, worn only once, stained and threadbare, but heavy with promises, expectations, and social significance. Since the dress fits her like a glove, she asks Mathieu Drouet to accompany her in confronting its lace with the trials and tribulations of everyday life - in a supermarket parking lot, in a libertine sauna, or in her parents’ house on the eve of their move. The images were taken in and around Lille – where Laurence works in tourism and art – and question how education shapes childhood dreams and what place marriage holds in society and in families. What remains of it after 10, 15, 30, or 60 years? Is it as dusty as the dress, with its musty smell?
Tennessee Moonshine
2015
Go, on ! Demon
In 2015, Mathieu Drouet and Agathe Vuachet follow Team Wild to Tennessee for an album recording, and go back to Tennessee in 2016. The outcome of those trips is a multi-faceted project that combines photography, video, and editing, in which Mathieu Drouet’s passion for music intertwines with his interest in the unexpected side of America. In addition to his time spent with Team Wild in the Nashville studio, he explores Tennessee, particularly Memphis and iconic roads. From these two trips, he produces three clips for Team Wild songs, a video of striking images of Tennessee, and two books corresponding to two series of pictures - one in black and white, the other in colour. While Tennessee Moonshine is deeply tied to the first album Team Wild recorded in the USA, it also stands back to unveil the Tennessee of bars and concerts, of Graceland and abandoned places, of celebrations and everyday life.
Moonshine is the name given to alcohol made illegally, especially during Prohibition. The title Tennessee Moonshine pays tribute to what is invisible at first glance but accessible to those who are observant.
Sexscape
2013 - 2024
Bodies and Chimeras
In Sexscape, Mathieu Drouet explores his own rapport with sexuality and fantasy. Bodies are alone but watched, in couples, or in groups. The models in this series become phantasmagoric illusions, thanks to the alchemy of long exposure times and 360-degree shots. This technique, developed by Mathieu Drouet to create sound and photographic landscapes during concerts at Le Grand Mix, allows glitches and superimpositions to verge on disconcerting hallucinations during the choreography of bodies and limbs.
Xavier Brisoux
Juillet 2018 - Septembre 2023
A close-knit bond
Mathieu Drouet has been telling the story of Xavier Brisoux’s knitted sculptures since they met in 2012. For the designer, who meticulously forms the architecture of each garment, entrusting the photographs of his collections to Mathieu Drouet is an exercise in letting go. In Valencia, at the Villa Cavrois (Lille), or in an abandoned apartment, the artists create a new tangible story for each collection, taking the high-fashion sculptural garments into cinematic and literary universes. Their collaboration shows the parallel evolution of their work, Xavier Brisoux having been a finalist at the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories in Hyères in 2020 before exhibiting his work at the Villa Cavrois in early 2023.
Winecore
2007 - 2017
Take a sip
Winecore is the fruit of ten years of work in the world of wine. Moving away from the usual images depicting vineyards, Mathieu Drouet has put the spotlight on the people who produce the wine and their physical and technical effort. Corsica, Burgundy, Occitania, Champagne... In addition to his assignments, Mathieu Drouet shows the technical nature of winegrowers’ gestures, as well as the little things that are part of vineyard life: vine training, maintenance of champagne yeast cultures, pig slaughtering, and meals with loved ones.
First Meeting
Women in Waiting
Isolated in Valencia for six months or a year, the women of the series First Meeting are all linked by their presence in Valencia at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. For some, the situation put their professional activities on forced hold; for others, it made the distance from their families even more palpable. For most of them, Mathieu Drouet was the first person they would see when one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns was lifted. Whether they were artists, refugees, vocal coaches, or former sex workers, some left the city, or even Spain, as restrictions began easing, to start a new chapter in their lives: in their country of origin, as a couple, or with children.
audioguides
Loin de l’idéal, loin des rêves
audioguid.es is a collection of photographic objects that focuses on the memory of territories and inhabitants. Bridging the gap between an audio guide and a time capsule, audioguid.es captures the memory and mindset of people living or working in the Goutte d’Or neighborhood in Paris during the summer of 2022.
Audio cassettes were the simplest means of music transmission in the 80s and90s, often creating a personal link between individuals and their community.
From the cadastral Goutte d’Or to the Goutte d’Or of the metro stations, the area sometimes takes on a more significant dimension: A zone of migration, passage, commerce, work, and various exchanges, the Goutte d’Or has a unique geography for each community, for each person.
The 10 cassettes that make up this set include recordings of interviews and a selection of music on side A. On side B, a DATA recording of the cassette ensures the transmission and longevity of the work.
Canapé Chucrut
January 2023
Drag Queens in Chiaroscuro
One evening in January 2023, Mathieu Drouet attends a drag queen show at the Centro Excursionista Bar in Valencia. In black and white, using chiaroscuro, he captures Laleva’s sass, Glamniss’ dark glam, and Letizia Conceta’s delicate elegance at Canapé Chucrut. The contrast in the images reflects that of the evening, where the sophisticated drag queens’ perform in a simple décor, and the richness of their costumes stands out in the intimate setting of the bar.