Perched between the Pacific Ocean and a steep cascade of hills, the Chilean port of Valparaíso unfolds as a city of improbable structures, twisting alleys, abrupt stairways and unexpected openings. Moving through it rarely follows a straight line; orientation is fleeting, always slightly unstable.
Stripped of the seduction of color and the familiarity of postcard imagery, Éléonore Simon’s black-and-white photographs allow the city to emerge in a suspended, uncertain time. Gestures, situations and fragments appear without resolving into clear narratives. People pass through the frame almost unnoticed; urban spaces and bodies are partially hidden, cut by railings, walls or shadows; the sea appears only in glimpses. The sharp coastal light becomes a protagonist of its own—cutting through surfaces, concealing and revealing—shaping the images as much as the precarious architecture of the hills, while constantly shifting the viewer’s perception.
Volver o volar—to return or to fly away—captures the quiet tension running through the series, echoing the artist’s own experience of movement between places. After spending several years in Valparaíso, Simon photographs the city from a position that is neither fully inside nor completely outside, a place defined by curiosity, distance and attentive observation. Rooted in everyday life yet open to suggestion and imagination, the photographs move along a fragile boundary between the real and the imagined, between observation and daydreaming, between lightness and enigma—maintaining their balance step by step, image after image.

About the Author

Éléonore Simon (French-American, b. 1987, she/her) is a photographer and writer based in Paris. With a background in art history and literature, she approaches photography as a practice grounded in attention, sensitivity and openness to possibility.
Entirely self-taught, she began with a deep engagement in street photography. Over time, this interest has expanded into a broader artistic practice that continues to explore the quiet poetry of everyday life, while also embracing fine art approaches and alternative photographic techniques.
Her work has evolved across periods spent in France, New York and Chile. Valparaíso, volver o volar (2017–2021) brings together photographs made during her years in Chile, shaped by a close observation of fleeting moments of tension and stillness within the port city.
Simon’s photographs have been exhibited internationally and published in magazines and books devoted to contemporary street photography. She is part of the UP Photographers collective and regularly participates as a speaker in international photography festivals. Alongside her photographic work, she is an active writer, collaborating with artists and contributing to publications including Revue EPIC and Process Magazine.

Éléonore Simon: Valparaíso
until March 28, 2026
Blue Sky – Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts – Portland OR 97209

More info:

https://www.blueskygallery.org/
https://www.eleonoresimon.com/