The Arts & Culture Journal

Simon Laurent is a photographer who lives and works in France. His incredible passion for his art is beautifully reflected in his work and his ability to pick out mood is startlingly keen.

"Photography and motion pictures are to me the same as breathing, like a heartbeat. More than a necessity. Somehow, it enables me to talk about my fear, which torments me deep inside, maybe to be more at peace with myself, to be more accepted by others. That's what I hope. It helps to understand the world I live in. What else could I do? I have never thought of any other possibilities... An Artist has a desire to produce things and he pursues this desire. He's able to deal with the world in a special way: The aim is to connect with it differently and to question certain things, which are taken for granted.”

His latest series of work ‘Inside from the inside’ can be read as a continuation of his work from ‘Imaginary homes and lives’. A personal and insightful collection. “I'm inside a house and I photographed and designed everything. Most of the rooms were unfurnished and I moved different elements to fill up the space. Creating atmospheres based on emptiness was quite a challenge, since I consider the house and its interior as an extension of myself. Making something based on nothing is also a way to explain the duality between existence and nothingness; a way of filling the gap between the two notions.”

Carefully placed frames within his pictures manage to illuminate the experience of duality very skilfully. There is a constant sense that there is a divide, within the separation of art and self, yet at the same time, Simon manages to celebrate the relationship as an intrinsic metaphor for expression. The so-called ‘meta-frame’, the audience gaze, is guided through the photographic subjects with a deliberate style and certainly leaves the impression of a multi-faceted artist at work.