ICP Teen Academy

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Mateo Torre-Bliss



I am interested in things that other people walk past and do not even notice. A chair on a sidewalk, a door worn smooth from use, an empty street but somehow like someone was just there. These are things I photograph. Not because they are particularly exciting, but because I think they have something to say; about who was there, what they were doing, how they were living their life. I do not set up scenes or pose people. There is so much going on right in front of us, so much detail, so much empty space, so much space that has been left. And if you look at it, if you take enough time, it begins to tell a story. Other photographers, like Richard Wentworth and Mark Power, taught me that things people do not notice, things that are empty and forgotten, have just as much to say as other things. While they did not exactly inspire me I can really relate to their work with everything I do. I want people to look at something, stop in front of it, and wonder about it. 
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Mateo Torre-Bliss is a photographer from New York City. He started taking photos when he was 12-years old of things and places in Brooklyn that people did not see or go to. Torre-Bliss is interested in the stories that could be found in things that people did not see, which were left behind. He also wants to find out how a used door, an empty road, or even an old bench could tell a story of things that happened or the history of people who used them. Torre-Bliss is a student of the International Center of Photography's Teen Academy Imagemakers program, where he is developing his skills in visual storytelling. He gets inspiration from Richard Wentworth, whose work is based on finding stories in things that people usually do not see, and Mark Power, whose work is based on taking photos of empty spaces. This shows that Torre-Bliss is very interested in the things that people usually do not see.