Matthew Hamon

Gymnosophy

GYMNOSOPHY: Our word gymnasium comes from a Greek noun meaning “place to be naked.” The adjective was gymnos, “naked.” In the early 20th century, the term gymnosophy was appropriated by several groups to denote a broad philosophy that promoted as an essential principle that the nude human body was a natural condition and should be normalized for the betterment of society. This series of portraits was made during a ten-day stay at a naturists’ community in Ontario, Canada. I comingle aesthetics and techniques associated with both journalism and formal portraiture to capture authentic, narrative images of this culture.

Photographer

Matthew Hamon

Matthew Hamon is a freelance portrait photographer who lives in rural Montana. His photography exists conceptually and aesthetically in the spaces between photojournalism and staged editorial imagery. Matthew hails from a small, remote town in Northern California. A sense of place informed by wandering the woods as a child inspires his enquiry. Self-described as "post-rural," Matthew currently lives in Potomac, Montana near the Blackfoot River. Matthew is a featured artist in Scott Ligon's, "Digital Art Revolution," ( Watson-Guptil/Random House). Matthew's work has been featured in CNN, Outside Magazine, The Independent -UK, Lens Culture, LifeFramer, Le Monde, 6Mois.fr, Stern, High Country News, morphyne.com, Edge of Humanity, Don't Take Pictures, Month of Photography, Los Angeles (MOPLA), PDN's Emerging Photographer, and Smith Journal. Matthew was a finalist for the 2016 edition of "Nera di Verzasca Award," winner of the Diaframmi Chiusi Photography Prize, and included in the IPHA 5 (Manifest's International Photography Annual). He is a 2016 Syngenta photography award recipient and first prize winner in PhotogrVphy's 2016 grant, and a finalist for the Center for Fine Art Photography’s 10th Portfolio Showcase. Matthew has been featured in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the Taylor Wessing Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London, UK, and in The Royal Photographic Society's International Photography Exhibition 160 (IPE 160).

This user account status is Approved