Simon Emond (he, they) is a self-taught photographer from Métabetchouan, a small lakeside town in Lac-Saint-Jean, Canada. In 2017 and 2019, without access to professional exhibition halls, Simon exhibited independently in outdoor spaces in his native region. Since then, he received several grants, prizes, and honorary mentions internationally, in addition to participating in numerous exhibitions in Canada, France, Denmark, Portugal and Italy. In 2023, Simon was shortlisted for the Lynne-Cohen Prize from the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec and in 2024, he won the Burtynsky Prize from the CONTACT Photo Festival in Toronto.
Simon’s work explores the possibilities of post-production software, such as Lightroom, where working with brightness settings contributes to a mutation of the image. In this way, his digital photographs go beyond the subject and the situation captured by the camera.
To mutate the light contained in the photographs, Simon uses a variety of techniques, such as exposure, contrast and clarity. This transformed light is a key element in his work. It allows him to sculpt his images, reveal their hidden faces and free them from their reality. These processes result in personal stories that invite reflection on the concealed worlds that surround us.
With digital printing, his works find their culmination in artist’s books, in situ installations and frames.