Chloe Dewe Mathews

Chloe Dewe Mathews
Name	Chloe Dewe Mathews
Birth date	1982
Birth place	London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Photographer
Known for	Documentary photography, long-form projects

Chloe Dewe Mathews is a British documentary photographer known for large-scale, investigative projects that examine landscapes, conflict, and ritual through staged and archival-informed imagery. Her work often interweaves historical inquiry with contemporary fieldwork across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, producing books, exhibitions, and commissions for institutions. She has been recognized with awards and fellowships and has held teaching posts and residencies at major art schools and cultural organizations.

Early life and education

Born in London in 1982, she studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and later completed an MA at Gerrit Rietveld Academie/University of the Arts London partnerships. During her formative years she engaged with practices connected to Documentary photography, Photojournalism, and Contemporary art movements. Early influences included the histories and archives of World War I, the landscapes of England, and political debates in institutions such as Tate Modern and British Council.

Photography career

Her professional trajectory spans editorial commissions for magazines and newspapers as well as long-term photographic commissions from museums, foundations, and broadcasters including collaborations with BBC and cultural institutions like Imperial War Museums and Victoria and Albert Museum. She has participated in programs associated with foundations such as the Magnum Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund. Her practice combines fieldwork across sites in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, India, Turkey, and Nigeria with archival research at repositories such as the National Archives (United Kingdom) and the Imperial War Museum collections.

Major projects and publications

Her notable projects include long-form sequences addressing the legacy of the First World War, transnational river systems, and contemporary rituals. Projects that received wide attention include a series tracing the centenary landscapes of the First Battle of the Somme, a river-based study engaging with the Rhine, the Seine, and the Volga, and documentation of shooting competitions and commemoration rituals across Europe. Publications and monographs accompany these bodies of work, published by independent presses and exhibited in collaboration with institutions such as the Photographers' Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her books situate photographic essays alongside essays by historians from universities such as University of Oxford, Cambridge University, and King's College London.

Exhibitions and awards

Her work has been shown at venues including Tate Britain, the Photographers' Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery (London), Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and international festivals such as Rencontres d'Arles and the Venice Biennale. Awards and recognitions include prizes and shortlistings from organizations like the Sony World Photography Awards, the Baume & Mercier Photographic Award, and support from the Leverhulme Trust. She has been shortlisted for major grants and prizes associated with institutions such as Arts Council England and has received fellowships that enabled research residencies at archives including the International Center of Photography.

Teaching and residencies

She has taught and lectured at institutions such as Royal College of Art, University of the Arts London, and Goldsmiths, University of London and has held visiting artist posts at universities including University of Oxford and Princeton University. Residencies have included placements at artist-run centers and cultural organizations such as the British Council, the Tate Modern residency schemes, and international programs supported by the Dutch Cultural Council and the Goethe-Institut.

Style, themes and influences

Her photographic style merges constructed encounters with documentary observation, drawing on traditions associated with photographers and artists such as Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Sally Mann, and contemporary practitioners like Alec Soth, Sebastião Salgado, and Pieter Hugo. Thematically her work interrogates memory, commemoration, landscape and the afterlives of conflict, engaging historians, military archives, veterans' associations such as Royal British Legion, and local communities across sites tied to events like the Battle of Passchendaele and commemorations of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. She often stages portraits and tableaux that reference archival photographs from repositories such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Imperial War Museum to explore how societies remember and ritualize violence.

Category:British photographers Category:Documentary photographers