Sacred (Art and Culture 2013, by Matthieu Gafsou) - Swiss Press Award

Du Magazin

Matthieu Gafsou

The Sacred project was created as part of the Fribourg photographic survey, a grant awarded by the canton every two years to a photographer. Its subject is the Roman Catholic Church. This religion undeniably represents, whether one is a believer or not, one of the founding pillars of our culture, particularly in regions which, like Fribourg, have seen this religion remain dominant. Catholics have the image of a conservative, traditional group, which fails to adapt to the contemporary world. However, this religion is also and always a social cement, actively participating in the support of the most vulnerable and in the transmission of a message of love. I decided to work on this subject which seemed fascinating to me in various respects (cultural, artistic, philosophical) without any preconceived ideas or the desire to steer my photographic approach in a predetermined direction. I was interested in rituals, objects, architecture, people: all the vectors of the sacred. Formally, I started from a simple premise: the Church is based on dichotomous pairs such as sacred/profane, death/life, heaven/earth, sin/forgiveness and, in a somewhat simplified way, black/white. This antinomic principle serves as a common thread throughout the series; I oscillate between vivid clarity and darkness. My goal from the outset was to break with the photographic canons of the Catholic Church, which often flirt with angelism. I preferred to take on a work that was incomplete and subjective. From the beginning, my goal was to develop my own language by having as wide a palette as possible. In order not to fall into formal overload, I adopted as neutral a posture as possible so that the whole would reflect a form of evidence and simplicity.