Marta Mattsson

Here is Marta Mattsson's self-portrait. She is a jeweler from Stockholm, Sweden. Mattsson attempts to integrate biology and art into each of her pieces.

This portrait depicts her wearing a piece of her own jewelry- a necklace made of eels. Her current project draws inspiration from wearing your fear. She is investigating whether making your fear part of your attire may possibly reduce the phobia. She has interviewed seven others and has created a jewelry piece for each.

Mattsson’s nude back presents a blank canvas for not only her piece of jewelry to stand out upon but as a projection of her fear. Nothing exists there to retain it. The ocean setting in the background enforces the natural eel environment. Marta placed herself in a locaton fit for her demised sea creature.

This photograph brings about emotion. Immediately upon looking at it, you sense something, a fear radiates from her eyes. Mattsson doesn’t show a sense of relief or contentedness with her situation. You can feel the intensity through her body movement; her muscles appear to be tense. Though all of this stands to be true, Marta seems at peace.

The black and white creates drama. The eel’s dark tones bring about great contrast to the gracefulness of Mattsson’s pale skin. The gray-scale background draws little attention, plays to the content matter, and acts purposeful to subtly outlining the importance of the image. Using the rule of thirds, Mattsson’s eyes hold the viewer 2/3’s of the way up the page and the bottom 1/3 is greatly focused on the eel's black bodies.

I think the concept behind Mattsson’s work is courageous and inspired. I enjoy the dramatic tones and subtle uses of props to enforce her ideas. I hope to bring honesty like Mattsson’s into my work.