Mathieu Asselin (born 25 June 1973) is a French-Venezuelan photographer artist specializing in

documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

and portraiture related to social issues. He is based in New York City. In 2017 his book ''Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation,'' "a powerful indictment of corporate power and ecological irresponsibility", won the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award and was a finalist for the

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

Life and work

Asselin began his career working on film productions in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Venezuela and then as a photographer in Europe. He currently works as a photographer in New York City. In 2011 Asselin photographed

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

protestors in

Zuccotti Park Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) is a publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman Sachs. ...

, using a small open-air studio. The same year he made portraits of people who had lived through the

2011 Joplin tornado A devastating EF5-rated multiple-vortex tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak, the tornado touched down just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a ...

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, Jasper and Newton County, Missouri, Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. J ...

. In 2014, he was Artist in Residence with Imagine Science Films. For his book ''Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation,'' Asselin spent five years photographing the damaged landscape around

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in Alabama and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. Acco ...

, caused by a

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

chemical factory.

Sean O'Hagan Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and f ...

, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

,'' described it as "a powerful indictment of corporate power and ecological irresponsibility", "a book about corporate impunity that unfolds through the deft interweaving of Asselin’s own images and a wealth of found material, from personal testimonies to courtroom files." O'hagan included it in his "best photography books of 2017".

Publications

*''Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation.'' With the contribution of Ricardo Baez (designer) and Frédérique Wallis Davy (writer). **Dortmund, Germany: Kettler, 2017. . English edition. **''Monsanto: une Enquête Photographique.'' Arles, France:

Actes Sud Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members. ...

, 2017. . French edition.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 2012: ''Portrait of a Tornado Path,'' See Gallery, New York * 2013: ''Portraits of Tornado Path,'' Indie Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel * 2016: ''The Ninety-Nine Percent,'' Breda Photo Festival.

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

, Holland * 2017: ''Monsanto, une enquête photographique,''

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d’Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d’Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historia ...

, Arles, France * 2017: ''Monsanto, une enquête photographique,'' Hangar J1, Marseille, France *2019: ''Stock Market'', National Centre for Photography during Ballarat International Foto Biennale

Group exhibitions

*''Plat(t)form,''

Fotomuseum Winterthur Fotomuseum Winterthur is a museum of photography in Winterthur, Switzerland. History The museum was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to photography as art form and document, and as a representation of reality. Fotomuseum Winterthur is an art g ...

, Winterthur, Switzerland, 2014

Awards

*2017: Finalist,

for ''Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation'' *2017: Winner, First PhotoBook award,

Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation. It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012. The categories are First P ...

References

External links

Photographs from ''Monsanto''
at ''Dazed'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Asselin, Mathieu 1973 births Documentary photographers Living people