About
“Originally from a small town on the Eastern Cape of South Africa called East London, Slater studied at the Cape Town School of Photography, where his experiments in the darkroom turned into a signature curation of “mistakes.” Like Sally Mann, whose mastery of collodion is as much about perfecting the technique of imperfection as it is about the mastery of photochemistry, Slater exposes his photographs to corrosive agents—dyes, heat, bleaches, etc.—to unfix what the camera has made and to let the print recompose, then reinterpret, itself.
In his series “Efflorescent Cherry” and “Arboretum,” for instance, images of kudzu and saguaro, sometimes a human face or torso, dim beneath a tonal erosion not original to the subject being photographed. Taking advantage of the image’s vulnerability in the darkroom, Slater nudges each one toward a precarious balance between here and nowhere, introducing an Eastern asymmetry and an appreciation of time’s entropic rust.”
- Collier Brown (Od Review)
Born in 1994, Matt Slater is a photographer currently living and working in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied photography at the Cape Town School of Photography. Slater is interested in our relationship to nature and exploring themes of impermanence, transience, mortality and the materiality of the photographic medium. Through his exploration of the craft, Slater has deconstructed both the image and processes to create a visual language that uniquely blends archaic process and current technology. In 2017 he took part in an Artist In Residence programme at Amplify Studios and exhibited the resulting body of work The Arboretum during the month of November. Slater published his debut book Efflorescent Cherry through Quiet Sun Books in 2018. His work has been featured in Od Review, Musée Magazine, Conde Nast House and Garden, GUP Magazine and Phases Magazine. He has held multiple solo shows and has exhibited in several group shows around South Africa. In 2020 his body of work Autumnal Glimpses was chosen as a finalist for Klompching’s Fresh 2020 (Klompching Gallery, NYC) as well as for FotoFilmic’s JRNL 5 (Guest Editior: Elisa Medde, Managing Editor at Foam Magazine).
Solo Exhibitions:
2022
‘Impermanence’, Origin Art
2019
‘Efflorescent Cherry’, Kelvin Corner, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Selected Works’, Alliance Française du Cap, Cape Town, South Africa
2017
‘The Arboretum’, Amplify Studio, Cape Town, South Africa
Group Exhibitions:
2024
‘Merging Matter’, Oude Leeskamer, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2023
‘Tracks and Traces: Abstractions in Painting and Photography’, Origin Art, Johannesburg, South Africa
RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg (presented with Origin Art)
2022
‘When Life Doesn’t Give You Lemons’ - 01.12.2021 (Johannesburg)
2021
‘Landscape 2021’, F-Stop Magazine (Online)
‘Ebb & Foliage’ (Duo exhibition), Spin Street Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa [View Catalogue]
‘Motion Bandits’, Gallery One11, Cape Town, South Africa
Fragments: On Performance and Light, The Spice Yard, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Troubled Archive’, The Labyrinth Project, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Premise’, Joe Prussian, Cape Town, South Africa
2020
‘In & Of the Land’, London Alternative Photography Collective - Photo Fringe 2020 (Online)
2019
‘About Photography’, Ph Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
‘nano 1.3’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Unforeseen Landscapes’, Ph Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2018
‘Throwing Shapes’, Smith Studio, Cape Town, South Africa
‘nano 1.2’, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Post This’, David Krut Arts On Main, Johannesburg, South Africa
Awards and Residencies:
Amplify Studio, May-July 2017, Cape Town, South Africa
First place in the Beyond Design (Creation & Perception) competition -2019
Klompching Fresh 2020 Finalist
A winner of the Life Framer Open Call competition judged by Dilys Ng, Senior Photo Editor at TIME.
Books:
Efflorescent Cherry published by Quiet Sun Books (2018)
Selected publications and interviews:
Klompching Fresh 2020 Online Showcase
Musée Magazine (Print - Issue no.23 - Emerging Artist)
Condé Nast House & Garden (Print - July 2019)
Talks and Lectures:
Guest Lecturer - Cape Town School of Photography (2020)
Professional Practice Workshop - Ph Centre (2019)
Guest Lecturer - Cape Town School of Photography (2018)
Please email mattslaterphoto@gmail.com for commissions, collaborations and print enquiries.
View Artist Wallpaper collection here
For commercial enquiries please visit Slater Studio
Please contact for an updated list of available works
