Photography, video and installation are the main media in my artistic work. My fascination lies primarily in visually and narratively exploring motifs of absence. In doing so, I create scenes in which space and light create a tension to reveal an absent.

I encounter phenomena such as farewell, abandonment, and death in my everyday experiences and those of my Colombian relatives with their religious and mystical beliefs. These condensed stories from my personal life permeate the narratives of my works and form their narrative character, with which I approach the absent.

These narratives frame the images, the visual plane, and through them are, in a sense, questioned and the possibility of approaching the absent is challenged. The light thereby creates an expectant atmosphere through which that which is absent from the situation becomes tangible.

Links about the work:

Präsenz, Video, 2020

­L´heure bleu, Licht- und Audioinstallation, 2018

Infos about the artist: ­mateo-contreras-gallego.com

Instagram: mateocontreras