Valerian Mazataud is a Montreal based freelance documentary photographer, born in France in 1978.
He works as a photo-reporter for Canadian and international medias (Le Devoir, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, Le Courrier International, der Spiegel…) and also pursues an artistic career using documentary and conceptual photography.
A self taught photographer since 2009, he owns a Msc in agronomy with a specialty in marine biology. His projects allowed him to travel in more than fifty countries around the globe.
He has had exhibitions in various artist-run centers around Canada, as well as during different art festivals (Voies Off Arles, Rencontres internationales de la photo en Gaspesie, Contact photography festival, Art Souterrain…).
He has won various photography awards, including grants from the Canadian council for the arts (CAC) and the Quebec council for the arts (CALQ). He was invited as an artist in residency by the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales as well as at artist-run centres DAÏMÔN, in Gatineau, and VU, in Quebec, Canada.
Since 2015 he shares his time between Canada and Central-America (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua) where he works on various documentary projects. Since 2012 he documents daily life in Montreal-Nord, one of Canada’s poorest neighborhood.
He has worked as a marine biologist, a scuba-diving instructor, a science educator and a clown. He also cycled 21000 km around the world and along the five continents between 2002 and 2004.