b. 1999

San Fernando City, La Union, PH;
lives and works at the
territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations

KHIM MATA HIPOL

Filipino-born Khim Mata Hipol is an emerging interdisciplinary artist based on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations. Through photography, Hipol examines how a sense of identity can be manipulated through commercialization. He explores the intersections of tourism, souvenir objects, and official government symbols, demonstrating how countries establish identity through these representations. Through portraiture, he illustrates how individuals use these objects to express patriotism and nationalism while simultaneously questioning their meanings and invoking ideas of colonialism and the “foreign”

Hipol graduated with a Certificate of Photography (2019) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Photography with a Minor in Art and Text from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, 2023). Hipol was awarded the Audain Travel Award (2022), Chick Rice Award for Excellence in Photography (2023), Fund for the Arts on the North Shore (2024), an honorable mention for the Seymour Art Gallery New and Emerging Award (2022), long listed twice for the Lind Prize (2022/2023). His works have been featured in group shows at FotomotoPH (Philippines, 2025), Griffin Museum of Photography (Massachusetts 2024), Filter Photo (Chicago 2024), Pendulum Gallery (Vancouver, 2024), Access Gallery (Vancouver, 2024), The Center of Fine Arts Photography (Colorado, 2022), Exposure Photography Festival (Calgary, 2022/2023), and Ciano Umuk Gallery (La Union, Philippines, 2023/2024). Hipol’s works have been acquired by Union Christian College (Philippines) and Ciano Umuk Gallery (Philippines), and can be found in private collections in Canada, USA, and Germany.