A World Like Our Own

Conchita Fernandes steps into the carefully crafted world of Matthew Albanese’s sprawling landscapes and discovers what goes into making them so realistic.

- Conchita Fernandes

Photography has always existed in a paradoxical continuum. It stands as a truthful record of a moment that has passed, but sometimes it is manipulated into making the viewer believe in the veracity of the recorded image.

At first glance, Matthew Albanese’s photographs appear to be scenes out of the real world, but on closer inquiry, you will realise that it is not all that it seems to be. It is the sliver of disbelief surrounding his sprawling scenes of nature that hints at its forgery because Matthew’s landscapes are meticulously constructed miniature sets made up of found objects that are transformed into opulent vistas.

The Moment Of Discovery

In 2008, a spilled canister of paprika piqued Matthew’s interest as it reminded him of the martian surface. “I was very interested in the colours and the textures, and I thought it could be used as something other than what it was originally intended for. What I imagined was a vast red landscape. Immediately, I went out to purchase twenty five pounds of the spice and created my first photograph, Paprika Mars. I then raided the spice cabinet for whatever I could find to create other types of environments,” he says.

Matthew’s love for concocting ethereal landscapes emerged from his childhood interest that involved watching special effects in films. “I was an avid watcher of Movie Magic and was always more interested in learning how the mind boggling movie miniatures were built and filmed to make the impossible, possible,” he says.