Matt Levitch’s Profile

Servants of the Lwa By Matt Levitch: 15Dec; Abducted and forced into barbaric slavery by the hundreds of thousands, the West African peoples exploited for labor on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola shared the spiritual bonds of their homelands. In the former French colony of Saint-Domingue, once among the richest in the world, slaves melded African beliefs rooted in ancestor worship and animism with Catholicism forced upon them by their oppressors and remnant practices of the island's exterminated indigenous peoples. Vodou, derived...; Tags: African, Afro-Caribbean, Catholicism, Documentary, Faith, Haiti, Photography, Photojournalism, Pilgrimage, Religion, Spirits, Spirituality, Syncretism, Vodou

Matt Levitch is an award-winning documentary photographer whose recent work has explored religious pilgrimages with an emphasis on man's spiritual connection to the natural world. He also documented the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, and in the future plans to examine issues related to indigenous cultures, human rights, and the environment.

Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, Matt's childhood explorations of the Appalachian Mountains instilled a profound appreciation for nature and fostered a lifelong thirst for adventure and discovery. He studied photography at the Hallmark Institute in Massachusetts, journalism at the University of Florida, and biology at the University of North Carolina. Prior to pursuing photography, he worked as a web producer for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston.

Matt is currently based in Los Angeles.

RECOGNITION

Black and White Spider Awards | First Place for Professional Photojournalism (2011)
Prix de la Photographie Paris | Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Honorable Mention (2011)
Photographer’s Forum Annual Photography Contest | Finalist (2008)
Photographer’s Forum Best of College Photography | Finalist (2008)
Hallmark Museum of Contemporary Photography | Doctor’s Without Borders Exhibition (2008)
Interdisciplinary Field Research Grant | University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies (2004)

EDUCATION

HALLMARK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY | TURNERS FALLS, MA
Certificate of Completion (2008)

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA | GAINESVIILE, FL
M.A. Journalism and Mass Communications (2004)

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA | CHAPEL HILL, NC
B.A. Biology (1991)

CONTACT

www.mattlevitch.com