Mathias Heizmann
Since resuming my photographic practice in 2013 after a twenty-year hiatus, I have given much thought to the question of film as a medium and to the limits of the digital image from the perspective of archival photography, or of any image that seeks to situate itself within the lineage of “witness photographs” (from postcards to photojournalism), whose cinematic counterpart can be found in the documentary work of the Lumière brothers.
Long before the advent of new technologies (digital images captured by cameras or composed by image generators), I had grown accustomed to thinking of photography as a form of imprint, the trace of the spatio-temporal presence of a real thing. Whether that presence was truly effective or not (it is not, strictly speaking, since what is captured is not the object itself but the photons recorded by the device) mattered little to me (and still does), insofar as this play of light presupposed a being in presence. At least as much as with Bazin, I found myself aligned with Barthes’s idea of a founding dimension of photography, summed up in the “that-has-been” (ça-a-été): “The photograph,” he writes in Camera Lucida, “is literally an emanation of the referent. From a real body that was there, radiations have issued that come to touch me, who am here.”
Everyone no doubt needs a portable dogma, an axiom that is not up for debate. Mine lay in this fragile link between my presence here and the ghost imprisoned on a sensitive surface, frozen for eternity.
In this respect, images produced by digital devices posed a problem for me. Certainly, the method of capture (a mechanical tool allowing light to be directed toward a surface capable of exploiting it) remained the same, but the nature of the sensor led to a rupture in the link with the captured object: no bodies seized, but bodies decomposed and then recomposed by an algorithm. No ghosts, little presence, even illusory.
As I write this, I am thinking of Serge Daney’s absent father, a possible extra in a highly hypothetical film, whose body—neither alive nor dead—would wander in the limbo of cinema. “I must have spent my life,” he writes, “knowing that he was somewhere, engraved, embedded, embalmed in the black-and-white films of the interwar period, and fearing that one day I would come across him, his celluloid face, his dead eyes that would see me.”
This is why I refuse to take digital photographs. I must myself be too much of a Bazinian to confuse the hyperreal world of Avalon with the flow of workers captured by the Lumière brothers’ camera. My question is not whether the world offered to our gaze is more or less manipulated by digital tools, or even invented from scratch by an ever more powerful AI, but whether something has indeed been captured—not by the camera or the photographic device, but by the film, the photosensitive emulsion that preserves, if not the effective presence of a tangible reality, at least the photonic imprint of what has been.
Featured Works
Mathias Heizmann
Ruelle 2, 2018
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 ×40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Hiver 2, 2023
Kodak TX 400 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Chassé-croisé, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Le saut de l'ange I, 2021
Kodak 400 TX film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Vers le fleuve, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Ruelle 1, 2020
Kodak 400 TX film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Saut de l'ange, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Au bord du fleuve I, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Fin de l'automne, 2023
Kodak TX 400 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Au bord du fleuve III, 2020
Kodak 400 TX film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Sur le fleuve, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Cour de tennis, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Déblaiement II, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Aide d'urgence, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Déblaiement I, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Péniche, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Rue inondée, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Rameurs, 2021
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Chemin, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Échappée, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Nageur, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Théâtre, 2022
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Au fil de l'eau, 2022
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Et l'eau s'est retirée..., 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 × 30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Ruelle inondée I, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
40 ×30 cm (16 × 12 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Ce qui est resté, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Après la crue, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Monticule, 2024
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Après la crue, 2024
Warmtone silver film, shot with a Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm.
Original print on ILFORD Multigrade Warmtone baryta paper, scanned.
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Au bord du fleuve II, 2018
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Pêcheurs, 2020
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Jeux d'eaux, 2020
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Passeur, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Enfance, 2022
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Rive, 2018
Bergger pancro 400 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Hiver, 2023
Kodak TX 400 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Farniente, 2022
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Aubade, 2020
Kodak 400 TX film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Insouciance, 2021
Adox Silvermax 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
Mathias Heizmann
Temps suspendu, 2023
Ilford Delta 100 film, Leica M6 / Summicron 50 mm
Original silver gelatin negative developed by the artist
Digitized and digitally processed from the original negative
30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in.)
