Eleonore Simon

Valparaíso Adrift

What is left once you have removed your anchors: the places, people and routines that ground you and give you comfort and direction? "Valparaíso Adrift" was born from a moment in my life when I decided to make a fresh start, left my home and moved to the other side of the world. Out of my element, I leaned on photography to discover a new country and make sense of this new life. In the past year, I have wandered around the streets of the Chilean port of Valparaíso looking for the incidental and enigmatic intersections between passersby and their environment, for instances when light, shadow and form reveal the beauty of fleeting moments and ordinary situations. This portfolio speaks of disorientation and the potential that photography has to create order and meaning out of confusion. Unusual camera angles, bold shadows and an attention to graphic elements abstract my depictions of urban life to create an aesthetic and mysterious representation of the world. I hold on to form and composition as my anchors, my ways of ordering, interpreting and transforming my surroundings. My images intentionally obscure context and avoid hints of time and place to create an atmosphere that is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. By removing a frame of reference, I hope to disorient viewers and invite them to pause and truly look at the image: a calm and serene view created out of our chaotic and overcrowded urban environments.