House Call with Marjorie Matamoros
The artist at home.
“Con una camarita y un sueño,” (with a little camera and a dream) Marjorie Matamoros builds worlds. We paid a visit to the Chicago apartment of this artist to learn more about the person behind What They Say.
Who are you?
My name is Marjorie Matamoros. I’m from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and I’m 23 years old.
What do you do?
I'm a multimedia artist, I take pictures, I make videos and a little bit of other things in between. I just try to capture life around me.
Mixed media works by Marjorie.
First song you’re playing on aux?
Lil Peep by Bb trickz.
Who’s someone that inspires you?
Clemente Calandra. I feel like he’s just really an artist and has this sensitivity for art. I met him freshman year and I feel like it changed my life, I could cry if I went too deep into it.
Top artist on Spotify last year?
Clem’s side project, Dead in Paris. He only has like three songs on there and they were on repeat.
Clemente Calandra, a.k.a. Heartgaze.
Photos by Marjorie.
Most overrated thing?
Sambas.
What gets you excited?
Eating. Like, finding a good spot and going with my friends.
What do you do for fun outside of your photo and video work?
I like to people watch. I like looking out my window, you can see the Bank of America parking lot. It's a very odd liminal space and I see all kinds of people. The people that happen to be there are so interesting, I always have so many questions.
Shot and Edited by Marjorie Matamoros. Analog FX by Logan Reily.
Creative Direction by Megan Hammond and Vasyl Broda.
Do you remember the specific moment you first noticed being interested in making art?
I was actually thinking about this today. My best friend in middle school was the first “artist” I ever met. I think we were taking a painting class or some shit. I asked him a question about something in the class and he said to me, “You don't really have to know how to paint in order to be an artist.” That was when I realized that you don't have to know anything to just start. I was thinking about them today and that was probably when I first started being interested in art for real.
That makes sense, I've realized that too after doing a lot of these interviews. Everyone's been saying the same thing about first starting out, they just were interested in the thing and they just kept doing it. Like, if you do this shit every day, you're gonna get good at it. It's not like you're born good at it. I mean, maybe that sounds obvious, but I feel like I just noticed how true it really is.
It's like a muscle or even like a sport at times. Obviously if you practice more, you're gonna get better and discover new shit. As an artist, you're gonna find cool shit when you experiment, you know? That's where the dopest art is gonna be born and where you’ll find the most raw shit.
Instead of your name, the header on your website reads, “What They Say.” Where does that come from?
I guess it’s like my alter ego. It was my original Instagram name, like one of my first ever. I was a big Jaden Smith fan and I remember at the time he and Kylie Jenner and all the celebrities in that crowd were on this woke wave. All of them changed their names to these woke usernames and I was just pondering in my room like, what am I gonna name myself? Like, I have to be along the lines with this vibe, but I have to be on my own shit, you know? Then randomly I was like, oh shit, what they say. I don’t even really know what I was thinking, I was like 13. [Laughs] I was just like “yeah, this is deep.” I think I was thinking about how at the end of the day, it's always gonna be about what others say, or like, what they say.
What are some other artists that inspire the work that you make?
I think it comes in waves, you know what I mean? There's periods of time where I'm more inspired. It’s always changing but right now I really like this artist named Tweaks. They make all kinds of media, videos, and little experimental films. I think it was just the first time that I saw femme people doing like, very weird shit and doing dark things. I was just like, “Whoa, this exists. There's other femme people out there doing shit like that.” Also, Yves Tumor inspires me as fuck and I'm really into FKA Twigs right now. FKA Twigs is just such an artist, like, they're creating music, but they're also super on top of their whole visual world. I really respect when artists take that holistic approach.
What have you been working on recently?
I was just in New York a couple weeks ago and I shot a music video with my friend Carlián and I’m really proud of that. It was a super femme and queer video and there were good vibes. It was just me and her and we just sat down and drank wine one night and we were like, we're gonna do this shit. I was leaving in a couple of days so it was a quick turnaround time but we did that shit. I was sick as fuck and it was cold as fuck outside but we were committed to the cause and it just feels so good to create art with other femme people.
Other than that, a couple of months ago I did this other music video with Clem for AMOR ETERNO. That's like my favorite piece of work that is out. I directed it and did all the editing, I feel like before anything else I’m really just an editor. It happened super quick, Clem just came to me and was like, let's do this shit. I think the video is perfect and I’m also really big on trying to create environments where it's mostly femme people behind the scenes. So when I was building the crew I got to assemble all the Avengers around me and just bring a lot of cool femme people on set, I was really proud of that.
Music video for AMOR ETERNO, directed and edited by Marjorie.
I loved that video and I especially loved the installation project you worked on with Clem for the release of his album Casi Angeles. Tell me a little bit about how that came together.
I remember when I first heard Casi Angeles before it came out. I was at the MCA and I was just walking around listening to the project and then all of a sudden I had an idea. The only paper that I had was a receipt from Village Discount, so I just started writing down all my ideas on this little receipt. I was like, “Damn, I have to send this to Clem.” The project itself had its own little world that Clem built and I just knew we needed to do something crazy for the release. I knew it had to come together in a way that people could experience and celebrate this thing. The whole album is based on a post adolescent lifestyle and it’s about coming into adulthood and experiencing a lot of super highs and super lows in life and merging that with the impact of technology and how it’s so hyper present in our lives.
How did you go about curating the installation itself?
Obviously I knew that Clem had to be in the center of it all and we wanted to build a room. I reached out to Jason Yaccino 'cause I had seen that he built this nest thing for Maxwell Bressler at this runway show. So I was like, “Hey, I have this idea but we don’t really have any budget to do it.” But luckily we were all committed and we found a way to build this whole structure and finessed it. Jason, Clem, and I all worked on it and built this room that had all this technology and brought together a bunch of small pieces from the world of Casi Angeles and the Angel Network. We materialized this world that’s a reflection of our real world. The event was a 25 minute listening experience and I think it really is its own little world, you know? In my brain it's always gonna exist.
Casi Angeles IRL
Designed by Jason Yaccino. Curated by Clemente Calandra and Marjorie Matamoros.
Mixed media (Installation of one room, three projectors, three led panels, 30min, silent.)
I like how even though you do so much intense editing and lots of your work relies heavily on digital modification, you're still putting stuff into physical space, which I think is really important.
I think my goal as an artist is to just be able to do installations and videos, not necessarily just music videos though. I really enjoy doing music videos, but I don't know if that's my ideal medium, you know? I can't really paint or anything, so I edit as painting and in a way that's like my canvas.
I did this project, Olor a Estados Unidos (Smells Like the US). It's an installation piece that’s a representation of these boxes that my family used to get when we were in Honduras. My auntie that lives in LA works at a hotel and she would always collect everything that she found in the lost and found and send it to us because she knew the people in Honduras could find use for it. So we would always get all this shit back home and it always felt like Christmas and it would be this reuniting experience. This project was me trying to bring that experience back and bring Honduras back by sending this box from Honduras to here. Inside of the box I projected photos of a place in Honduras called Intibucá. It’s a box full of nostalgia and memories and with this project I was trying to expose people to my country and my people and how it looks. I feel like I rarely see anything like that here. I absorb so many things showcasing the US and so much American media so I was trying to put that in reverse for once. It was in a gallery last summer and was like my first like, for real exhibition. It was so cool.
Installation view of Olor a Estados Unidos/Smells like the US (2023)
Single channel projection and cardboard, 60 x 41 x 41 inches.
When you’re editing a video or just working on something in your apartment, what’s your process? How do you lock in?
I feel like I just gotta start. I gotta just send it and open Premiere. But sometimes there's definitely like a creative block and you just feel like you’re not all there. So I’ll play ambient music, scroll a little bit on Are.na, and just do little things to make me feel inspired. I really fuck with Are.na 'cause I just want to see things that inspire me and it’s a place that I can just consume media, but not in a way that I'm comparing myself to anyone else. So yeah, I’ll do that or rewatch my videos, and keep watching the video I'm working on multiple times until I'm like, “okay, I get it.” Like, I understand it better, and then I can start from there. But sometimes it doesn't work and you just have to shut down Premiere and go for a walk or watch a movie or something because you can’t really push the creative process. So like, especially when editing, I have to be locked in. When I find those pockets where I can lock in it's beautiful 'cause I'm just excited and it’s like I’m playing a video game, you know?
Yeah. It is like the best feeling ever. I know exactly what you're talking about and it just kind of comes and goes. But, like you said, doing something active or just getting out is really helpful. I also love Are.na because the media is detached from the person. When I see something really sick on Are.na I can just enjoy take the work for what it is. On Instagram where the work is connected to a persona I tend to start to compare myself.
Are.na feels like a library in a way. When I’ve gone to the library at school I’ll see a great photobook and be like, “Damn, this shit is sick as fuck.” But those same photos could be a body of work for someone that you follow on Instagram and for some reason if it's on Instagram, it would make you feel some type of way. It's crazy for real.
What does success mean to you?
I was just thinking about this, I'm a thinker. I ponder a lot. I was thinking the other day like, what was the initial thing that made me start doing what I wanted to do? It’s shifted because I've grown up, I guess, and life and things get harder. When I first started, I thought success was being able to make art and become “successful.” But to be able to bring art back to Honduras and share what I have learned in the world is what success looks like now. Like, to go back to Honduras and give that knowledge back because Honduras just doesn’t really have an art scene like that, it's just not really a place where art is a priority at all. I always knew I wanted to do something with the art but I think the goal is to be able to bring it back home.
Marjorie in Honduras as a kid + Marjorie in their Chicago apartment.
What are you most proud of?
I'm proud of just keeping on going. Every day I'm trying to take baby steps, and I just have faith that the baby steps will take me where I want to be.
@what.theysay
https://whatheysay.cargo.site/
Stuff Marjorie listens to. Tap in.
Chicago, IL
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam