Critial Review - Matt Smith

Matt Smith – ID Festival

Matt Smith is a Manchester based photographer with a keen focus around people and city lifestyle. The main focus of his work is often the people that surround him and the strangers he interacts with on his life journey.

The body of work featured at ID Festival 2014 is no exception. A series of 6 portraits are on display in the main room. The work focuses on the theme of identity and places particular emphasis on the face as a tool for expression. Internally we all share the same bone structure, organs and feelings, however on the outside we are tasked with finding a unique way to represent ourselves. Be that through the display of tattoos, fashion, hairstyles or the many other options available for expression and individuality. These things form the foundations for our identities.

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“The fact of being who or what a person or thing is”

                                                                            

The portraits focus on a group of British males all in University Education. When seen full size the apparent use of selective focus is very clear. The old saying “eyes are the window to the soul” is a very fitting phrase for this body of work. As a viewer you are given an intimate look into a seemingly normal group of strangers that would look at home in any urban UK landscape. How does someone gain an identity? Is it a natural process or one that is moulded and crafted until perfection?

The uniform appearance of the photographs when hung en masse compliments the brightness and clean look that they share as a set. The appearance of the 6 images together take us back to a basic concept that we are all brought into the world with the same foundations. On an appearance basis, we have 2 eyes, a mouth, a nose and some hair. Within the 6 images we see apparent trends and styles that make up the identity of the subjects. Alongside the images we see a simple caption stating the name of the subject. No last name is given. This is a bold stance when faced with a theme of identity, which has been said to somewhat challenge conventional means of ‘identity’. Photographs such as these are often seen alongside a full name, date of birth, place of residence and other intricate details. When these are taken away we are left with only the appearance for identity.