Senta Simond

Blue Hour - Senta Simond

It’s a strange thing, a being caught between the attention of the public, and Senta Simond’s gaze.

The vignettes of roads, horses, cars, and metallic bodywork create an image of what one could consider a utilitarian, materialistic, masculine world, yet at the heart of this world lies men themselves. The model - her boyfriend, Leon - embodies the warmth and emotional connection of a close relationship, evokes the quiet intimacy of a romantic partner or confidant. When Simond undresses her muse in these stills, masculinity suddenly becomes human, soft and fleshy, something that is the object of admiration and intimacy rather than solely the subject. The boundaries between the personal and the public are toyed with.

Blue Hour explores the depth and intimacy of human connection, focusing on the emotional landscape of masculinity. It shows the sliding scale between globally broadcasted shots of underwear models and the utterly intimate shots that are usually kept private, lover to lover.

The difference is difficult to tease apart. What is playful in a person-to-person way, what subtle muscles that pull to convey an honest smile can be turned on or off under the spotlight?

Renowned for photographs of the female body that counter stereotypical views of feminine beauty, Senta Simond now captures the male form in intimate, vulnerable moments, revealing a rawness often overlooked. The model, embodying the warmth and emotional connection of a close relationship, evokes the quiet intimacy of a romantic partner or confidant. 

Blue Hour discusses all of this in a series of stills, from discarded paint-streaked jeans that create natural peaks of shadow, to the overly-sensual imagery latent in adverts for muscular US-made cars. On focusing on these moments of vulnerability and affection, she challenges the often rigid, stoic representations of men in visual culture, highlighting a softer, more vulnerable side of male identity.


About the Artist
After studying aesthetics and film theory at the University of Lausanne, Senta Simond received a Master’s degree in Photography at ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland. She was a finalist for the Aperture/Paris Photo First Book Award and the British Journal of Photography’s “Ones to Watch” in 2018. She also received the Swiss Design Award in 2018.

Her work has been in solo shows at MEP, Musée Européen de la Photographie, (Paris), Foam Museum, Danziger Gallery (New York) and Webber (London and Los Angeles), and in group shows in Tokyo, London, Bienne, and Basel. Simond has also been working as a fashion photographer since 2018. Born in Geneva, she lives and works in Paris.


Edition of 250
100 pages
21 x 26.8cm
Softcover with dustjacket

ISBN 978-1-917282-21-5