About Chantal Simone
Chantal Simone (1977) is a Canadian‑Brazilian visual artist based in Rio de Janeiro. Her work explores the meeting place between visual ethnographies and grand narratives, the enduring stories humanity keeps retelling. She seeks echoes of these in the people, places and objects of the everyday world.
Her practice is closely tied to the experience of photography as slow cinema. She presents her work primarily through photobooks, formats that allow multi‑layered readings, where meaning emerges not from a single image but from sequences and constellations.
She founded La Rampa magazine in 2000 to pursue deeper explorations of visual expression, treating photography as philosophy, a space to investigate the psychology of looking and the human condition: mortality, desire, the roles we perform and the search for meaning that runs through both everyday gestures and cultural spectacle.
CV
Education
South Asian Studies, University of British Columbia
BFA, Parsons School of Design, New York
Photobooks
2000 – La Rampa, Cuba
2004 – Haiti Cherie, Haiti
2005 – La Perla, Cuba
2005 – Vai Com Deus, Brazil
2020 – Portugal Negro, Portugal
Publishing / Editorial Work
Founder and Editor, La Rampa magazine (issues produced in Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Portugal, 2000–to present)
Publishing experience in Havana, Cuba (2002–2004)
Residencies / Long‑Term Immersion
Twenty years living and working in Rio de Janeiro
Two years living in Havana, Cuba
Period of work in Portugal focusing on migration and identity (Portugal Negro)
Exhibitions
2003 – Wish You Were Here, DVCAI, Miami
2004 – Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, Washington, D.C.
2004 – Miami Art Basel Group Show, DVCAI, Miami
2011 – Sand, The Department Gallery, Scotiabank Contact Festival, Toronto
Short Films
Life in Rio’s Landfill
Street Kids in Rehab
Maternity
Evangelicals and Candomblé
Indigenous Rights in Rio