Igor Mattio

Photography

Present Journeys

The Semantic Void

The Semantic Void. (A Question of Friction) I printed Skin and Under in Italy, at Tipografia Sosso. The technicians handled the proofs — pages full of nudes — with the same ease they would have brought to a discussion of inks. We went in and out to check the proofs in sunlight, waving the large

The Courtyard

During a four-day shoot, something was said — aimed at the only woman in a group of eight nude male models. I wasn’t there when it started. By the time I arrived, the men had closed ranks. Against Juan, I later gathered. At dinner I asked. Got only careful vagueness. The matter was theirs to

Bodies as Cultural Sites

I photograph bodies. But not the way that phrase usually lands. A body is never just a body. It arrives already inscribed — by the culture it grew up in, the labor it performed, the gender it was assigned or chose, the food it ate, the sun it worked under, the touch it was or

Skin and Under II — The Gaze (Summer 2027)

SKIN AND UNDER II — The Gaze The first volume was an attempt — incomplete, as first attempts are. It began with a simple observation: young men from Latin America, photographed across different years and cities, tended to arrive at the camera in similar configurations. A particular set of the jaw. A way of holding

Presence, No Compromise

I work with the body.Not to provoke, not to decorate, but to stay close to something honest. Today I had a conversation that quietly reminded me why this matters to me.A model told me he admired my work, but that full nudity wasn’t something he felt comfortable with. I respected that immediately. A body is

Safety as Aesthetic | Contemporary Photography, Form & Fear

Bored of Very Serious Photography? Nothing on your skin. When I look at much of the “in-vogue” contemporary photography, I don’t feel rejection. I feel boredom. A deep boredom—not born of any intolerance for the new, but from the oppressive sense of recognizing the same script over and over, performed in the same flat voice,

CUBA — Skin and Grace – Project Introduction

Skin and Grace – Episode IThe Macho and the Muse Project Introduction I arrived in Cuba to meet five professional dancers, drawn to a grace I had known only through screens and fleeting digital fragments. I wanted to photograph their bodies, of course, but above all to capture what remains when movement stops: an inquiry

Traces of a Grand Tour

September/October 2025 Once again, I found myself journeying through Italy, heeding the call of my friend Anto. His recommendations were, as always, a series of irresistible commands: “You have to go there to photograph!” And, as always, I followed. Our first destination was Sicily. We landed in Catania in the violent embrace of a thunderstorm,

Shifting Focus

July 2025 Skin and Under kept me busy for almost two years. A complex project, not only for the practical challenges, but above all for the doubts I carried within myself. Legitimacy? Not the right word, perhaps. Right is closer to what I was taking on—portraying my subjects in moments of intimacy, when their defenses

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