AUGUST 2023
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
BEHIND THE SCENES
1st Verse
“Every Body Got Needs”
1st Verse and I go way back. Probably 2009 informally and since definitely 2011 professionally. He has always been one of my favorite rappers from Tulsa and it was a delight to have him at the art parties that I made in Tulsa from 2011-’14.
When it came time to make a music video with him, my eyes lit up. I filmed the shots of him rapping in Oklahoma in September 0f 2019. After that I went to Colombia for a month and met up with Dahara and Tatianna and filmed them loving on each other. Then I then went to photograph and film in the Chilean revolution in Santiago de Chile. I finished it with some shots of people moving in slow motion in Ciudad de México as well as shots of Alejandra going around the city and working out in the streets. The intro and outro sunset was filmed on Pocono point in Nantucket, Mass.
I loved making this video and it is one of my favorites to date. The whole process. We filmed the shot with the mirrors in the background gorilla style in the lobby of the Bank Of Oklahoma main branch in downtown Tulsa. Just walked in and did it. We got another shot going down the escalator twice and were out! Another shot was done on the pedestrian bridge going over the LL Tisdale parkway on the north side in Tulsa. A friend of 1st Verse texted him and told him he saw us up there filming when he drove by. We also filmed in the tunnels underneath downtown and greeted businesspeople as they went to lunch.
This post and this video are dedicated to 1st Verse’s father. Check the video and share it with someone you think might like it!
TALES OF HONGOSTO:
A LIFE UPDATE
In México, August in the central valleys of the country is known as hongosto. (hongo = mushroom) This is due to the wet season and the fertile ground that sprouts hundreds of thousands of mushrooms all over the mountains that surround this zone. We have been hiking and taking in the sights of the mushrooms growing and taking an advantage of the wet and cold conditions in the mountains. We say that the Summer turns into a second winter here in CDMX around this time. I love it because I love wearing scarfs and layers.
Next month I have two photos going in an expo for the 50 year anniversary of the Chilean dictator Pinochet. The photos are from the work I made in Santiago in 2019 during their revolution. I will have pieces hanging along side some exiled Chileans, now well into their 70s who were sent to México without even their parents knowing. Message me if you want the details to this event.
I have been out shooting every day and editing at night and when the clouds and rain come. We have started hosting dinner parties at our home and studio here in CDMX. So if you will be in the area, let us know and we will roll out the green carpet for you.
ARCHIVE Digging:
Warsaw 2015 Part 1
I originally arrived in Warsaw in September of 2015. I talked to my German friends Maxi and Johannes and got HUF DE to give us an apartment and some money to make a video in Warsaw. They sent two groups of skaters, with 5 days off in the middle that I focused on shooting photos. In that meantime I met Paulina Z. who would become my partner for a couple years and travel the world with me.
Warsaw is a new city. 95% of the city was destroyed in WWII after German, Russian, British and Gringo planes all dropped bombs on the city at some point. I lived in the only pre war neighborhood, Praga district. An old working class neighborhood on the other side of the Visła river from the center.
Looking back at the photos brings back fond memories and I know love and appreciate the photos. This is one of the real rewards of film and going through it a couple years later. It is like reliving these moments.
These are all screenshots from unedited film scans. I am still going through my rolls from Vienna 2011. This process is seemingly never ending. I have spent four to five years going through the first ten years of rolls and I’m still trying to catch up. This newsletter is in part to be able to share my archive digging with the people who want to see it most: you all. In the next months, different periods of my travels and other archive digs will be unearthed and distributed.
NOW SHIPPING:
EVERY DAY IS BABYLON
120 photographs taken over 12 years in 16 countries on 5 continents.
Every Day Is Babylon takes the reader on an international adventure crossing borders and cultural divides. This second edition has a slight re design from the first edition that sold out earlier this year after it was successfully launched at NYC-SPC’s Contact Gallery in Brooklyn.
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Thanks for tuning in. Check back next month for the next installment. Make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter to get this content delivered straight to your inbox. See you in the streets. - Matthew