She has always taken photos to make everyday life wonderful and to capture time. She became an artist, poet, illustrator, video artist and, above all, a humanist. Portrait.
"I remember, as a child, taking photos with the disposable cameras I was given, and I was particularly fascinated by the photo albums where people would turn the pages and share stories. In one of them, you can see me as a child, taking a picture of my reflection in a window, then capturing flowers, details, faces. From the start, what attracted me to photography was capturing the passage of time, freezing a moment that would exist forever. For example, I wanted to make my grandmother live forever. And in the photos, people seemed happier than in their everyday lives; I loved seeing them smile. It also allowed me to survive in a child's world that could be cruel. The present often seemed too disappointing, so taking photographs proved to me that life was beautiful, as lovely as my mother's childhood photos."
In 2014, after studying visual arts in Nice and earning a Master's degree in Information and Communication, and without really believing in her future career as a photographer, Gaëlle Simon posted a video on YouTube with two fellow students: a cover of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" video, featuring 72 young people from Nice dancing. The cheerful shoot went viral instantly, garnering over 450,000 views and a phone call from Irina Brook, then director of the Théâtre National de Nice. She loved the video's production and invited Gaëlle to join the theater to tell the daily story, in video, of the behind-the-scenes life at the TNN. "Meeting Irina Brook had a profound impact on me. It felt like we recognized each other. I loved diving into the backstage of this theater where Irina had formed a troupe. There was a family spirit that created a unique bond between the audience and the actors. I was utterly fascinated by this dream machine, the spotlights, the adrenaline of unique moments, and being immersed for five years in the intimate lives of the actors. I felt at home among them and reconnected with the artist within me. I moved from my studies in communication to an artistic universe where anything was possible. I no longer followed fashion or trends but sought something deeply human and authentic from the depths of my ever-present childhood heart."
In 2017, driven by this newfound passion, Gaëlle launched a slightly crazy project called "Very Small Love Stories" to share her poetry with people, inspired by Amélie Poulain, the famous character from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film, of whom she is obviously a fan. "I wanted to show that life is full of small moments of love. So I created very fragile little treasures, moments of life to be preserved, in the form of tiny street photos, folded and wrapped in paper and string. They depicted dancing children, open shutters, a cat, a cyclist... To enjoy the images, you had to carefully open the fold around them, like a metaphor for taking the time to appreciate these moments of life, in contrast to today's society that keeps scrolling on your phone screen. Through this symbolic gesture, I wanted to express that we must take the time to live in the present." Gaëlle traveled across France, from Bordeaux to Paris, via Lyon, Montpellier, Toulouse, Nice, and even to Canada, randomly leaving her "surprise" photos in popular cafes like a trail of love. "I received several messages, a year or even two years later, because I had left my Instagram handle on them!"
In 2018, after a tumultuous year with life's secrets, Gaëlle decided to exhibit new photographs accompanied by texts in Nice, during the "Boum Boum" exhibition, in collaboration with painter Ja, the Martin Sauvage Gallery, and the Femmes en Scène festival. "It was a leap into the unknown for me because I was displaying very personal texts here, but I received very positive feedback, like from this young woman in a wheelchair who started crying while reading my texts, telling me I had managed to express what her heart wanted to say. This moment confirmed my path as a writer." The artist also tried her hand at illustration the same year, collaborating with the Monte-Carlo Opera by creating "The Little House of the Opera," a folding map explaining opera to children.
An idea for an oracle in the form of a card game came to her instantly. "By drawing a random card that I would illustrate and caption, I could make people's lives more beautiful and poetic. I could help them find words and advice for what they were going through, and for what I was going through at the same time. I wanted the game to be useful for both adults and children. I approached just one publisher, 'Contra-Dires,' and he immediately accepted my project! I felt wonderfully connected to the world." The box of 70 cards, "Au Petit Bonheur," an introspective, philosophical, poetic, and artistic oracle for young and old alike, was born in 2022. Among the cards, you can find: "Take the plunge!" "After the rain, the rainbow appears," or "The beauty of flaws," each brilliantly illustrated, the result of transforming each of the artist's experiences into color. Gaëlle introduces it like this: "I imagined it as a poetic companion that would bring a little magic to your life every day, accompanying your joys and sorrows like a poem."
In 2021, she returned to photography and clarified a humanistic approach. Inspired by the photographic movement celebrated by Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis, and Sabine Weiss, she decided to photograph daily life poetically during artistic residencies. "What I love about this type of photography is capturing human moments in people's eyes, photographing them like family photos, giving value to everyone, regardless of age or social class. When you photograph someone, you give them importance, you make them feel valued." After photographing a theater, she turned her attention to the daily life of a summer camp in Auron, in the mountains near Nice, where she gave photography workshops and captured everything that happened there in black and white. "During childhood, all emotions are heightened; there are timeless moments that mark a lifetime, and it's wonderful to photograph." This moment also allowed her to reconcile with her own childhood: "I was a victim of school bullying. I was often alone, out of sync, sad. I think that if childhood is so present in my work, it's to heal this fragile place within me."
The following year, Gaëlle immersed herself in the social center "Le Village" in the Ariane Priority Education Zone district in Nice. "This neighborhood deeply touched me with its outpouring of solidarity. At the social center, where I taught communication courses to the young people in the neighborhood, I felt a strong sense of humanity. These young people even won an award that year as part of the Solidarity Observatory. It was a source of pride for them and for me! All the preconceived notions about this type of neighborhood were swept away."
Gaëlle also embarked on a new humanistic project, "Memories of the Present," immersing herself in the Russian Red Cross nursing home in Nice. "I loved spending time with these elderly people, photographing them in their rooms. What emerged from our encounters tells the story of life, which is still valid, even when it is close to its end."
Gaëlle Simon has exhibited her images in numerous places along the French Riviera and sold her photographs worldwide with the Martin Sauvage Gallery. She continues her humanist photography project through artistic residencies or commissions for cultural institutions, such as the La Trinité media library near Nice, where she is from, which asked her to create portraits of people who experienced the liberation of France in 1945 for Heritage Days. She also teaches photography courses and workshops, passing on the spark of dreams that still shines in her childhood heart. In parallel with the exhibition on Berthe Morisot, the first female impressionist painter whose work is currently exhibited at the Jules Chéret Museum of Fine Arts in Nice, she gives impressionist photography lessons on "pointus," the famous traditional Provençal fishing boats used by Berthe Morisot for her paintings. During these sessions, Gaëlle Simon reveals all her secrets of photographing reflections, movement, and speed to capture emotions in photos. The participants' photographs will also be exhibited during the European Heritage Days. "This project came to me one day when I was thinking about how much I wanted to see the Morisot exhibition, and a few minutes later, I received a call about this project—it was incredible! But it seems that life is beautiful, and that’s what I keep telling myself. Everything that happens in the world depresses me, and sometimes I lose meaning in my own life; I find it hard. But then I remember this mantra, 'it seems that life is beautiful,' and I get back up again. Then, there is always a ray of sunshine or a shadow that will inspire me. Sometimes, the sun is very small compared to the vastness that makes us despair, but that little light exists. If you train your gaze, you can find it everywhere, if you take the time to look for it. Poetry is omnipresent, like a flower growing in the middle of the asphalt. It's that flower you need to think about constantly."
News
- Photographic workshop in partnership with the Berthe Morisot exhibition in Nice. Impressionist stopovers. September 19, 2024, upon registration: www.musee-beauties-arts-nice.org. The photographs will be exhibited at the museum on September 21 and 22, 2024, on the occasion of the European Heritage Days.
- Memories, exhibition of texts and photographs at the Les Quatre-Chemins Media Library in La Trinité in September 2024. Collection of stories and testimonies of Trinitarians from the Liberation to today (as part of the 80th anniversary of Liberation — European Heritage Days).
- Les paths of desire, Nicolas Deliau & Gaëlle Simon. Introspective and concrete card game to create your path (if not finding it). Self-publishing. Crowdfunding at the end of 2024.
https://www.instagram.com/gaellesimon/
Pictures: © Aurélie Juan, Gaëlle Simon
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