Matt Drew

BA (Hons) Fine Art

Matt Drew

I am a photographer who works within landscape, documentation and conceptual photography, with a focus on the human experience, colour exploration and digital distortion.

We are unable to look at the world around us without seeing it through a lens. That lens may be our mood, the weather of the day and how it affects us, the ones we are with, or any number of a billion biases affecting how our mind interprets our surroundings.

Photography is powerful in how it allows me to document not just what I see, but how I feel. And pass that emotion on. Whether constructed or seen in a passing chance, in my photography I have explored this ability to capture and convey emotion.

My work is selfish. I capture moments that make me feel happy, sad, or just make me feel. My work does not explore a single over-arching theme, but rather has been an outlet for me to discover who I am as an artist.
Photography has become a therapeutic outlet. Our minds are not always clear, mine infrequently is. Through distortion of visuals I can at times display more truth of the moment. If Archive was a view into my experiences over the past few years, then Chaos is a view into my current head and how I feel about my surroundings.

If my work can teleport you to the moment I’ve captured, to visualise that little world, and to feel within it, then it has been successful.


Rwy’n ffotograffydd sy’n gweithio o fewn ffotograffiaeth tirwedd, dogfennaeth a chysyniadau, gyda ffocws ar y profiad dynol, archwilio lliw ac aflunio digidol.

Ni allwn edrych ar y byd o’n cwmpas heb ei weld drwy lens. Gall y lens honno gyfleu ein hwyliau, y tywydd ar y diwrnod a sut mae’n effeithio arnom ni, y rhai sydd gyda ni, neu unrhyw nifer o lu o ragfarnau sy’n effeithio ar sut mae ein meddwl yn dehongli ein hamgylchedd.

Mae ffotograffiaeth yn bwerus o ran sut mae’n fy ngalluogi i ddogfennu sut rwy’n teimlo yn ogystal â’r hyn rwy’n ei weld. A throsglwyddo’r emosiwn hwnnw. P’un a yw wedi’i greu neu wedi’i weld mewn ennyd fechan, yn fy ffotograffiaeth, rwyf wedi archwilio’r gallu hwn i ddal a chyfleu emosiwn.

Mae fy ngwaith yn hunanol. Rwy’n dal momentau sy’n gwneud i mi deimlo’n hapus, yn drist neu sydd ond yn gwneud i mi deimlo. Nid yw fy ngwaith yn archwilio un thema gyffredinol. Yn hytrach mae wedi bod yn sianel i mi ddarganfod pwy ydw i fel artist.
Mae ffotograffiaeth wedi dod yn sianel therapiwtig. Nid yw ein meddyliau bob amser yn glir, anaml y mae fy meddwl i’n glir. Drwy aflunio delweddau, weithiau gallaf arddangos gwirionedd y foment yn well. Os oedd Archive yn gipolwg ar fy mhrofiadau dros yr ychydig flynyddoedd diwethaf, yna mae Chaos yn gipolwg ar yr hyn sydd yn fy mhen ar hyn o bryd a’m barn am fy amgylchedd.

Os gall fy ngwaith eich cludo i’r foment rwyf wedi’i dal, er mwyn gweld y byd bach hwnnw, a theimlo eich bod yn rhan ohono, yna mae wedi bod yn llwyddiannus.

www.mattdrevv.wixsite.com/photography

Other Exhibitors:

Caitlyn Laye

Caitlyn Laye

My artwork was initially inspired by the rave scene which is usually an intense environment of music, colour and lights. I decided to recreate the feelings that my experience evoked, with the use of illuminative acrylics and spray paints on canvas. As spray painting...

Chloe Winder

Chloe Winder

Our species has become increasingly disconnected from nature. I focus on landscapes of personal significance and/or landscapes that have been disrupted by industrial use. Materials from these sites (often rocks, muds, and bricks) are used through a process-orientated...

Rebecca Jones

Rebecca Jones

Non-linear narratives such as unreliable memories, leaky dreams and deja vu are a central reference within my practice. I address the structure of these forms of narrative using repetition, replication and iterations of time. My work is largely sculptural, using...

Rachel Verner

Rachel Verner

Exploring the fragmentation of memory through the physicality of found objects and the spoken word, my work has become an archive of my family history. Due to the archival nature of my work, I replicate ways of preserving my objects through the attentiveness of their...

India Beaudro

India Beaudro

In my current practice I am concerned with the objectivity and phenomenology of colour. Through using media such as light and coloured acetate, my present work is intentionally focused and uncluttered, allowing colour to be considered as a singularity without any...

Katie Berry

Katie Berry

With a love for colour my work addresses form and shape and the impact this has on a space. I am demonstrating how the use of bright colour can create maximum optical impact. I’m interested in pattern and repetition to create a visual aesthetic whilst whilst working...