Matthieu Gafsou's interest in the tension between untouched nature and its exploitation by human beings is revealed in Alpes, a photo series of the mountains around his home in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The mountains are a place of great nature and magnificent landscapes. Matthieu Gafsou focused on Swiss Alps in summertime, and, viewing his photographs, one can imagine him striding along summits with his material, continuing the representation of nature work which was started centuries ago, the Grand Tour, Friedrich, Turner. But, while the viewer travels all over the glaciers, the lakes and the peaks without any effort, some characters appear on the pictures, disturbing his contemplation: there is 10 people around on the top, and even more at the high altitude restaurant.
Matthieu is trying to express something else while showing these tourists and installation, in such inaccessible places. He questions our relationship with nature, and the lost of genuineness and solemnity of the mountains caused by our presence. The viewer may smile, uncomfortably, seeing that sublime object of our fascination exposed like a fish on the end of an amateur fisherman.
