Simon Émond’s Reshaping the Sky / Rebâtir le ciel involves him reaching out to the queer community near his home in Quebec, collecting testimonies, and producing photographic and literary work about identity, gender, desire, and community.
In the 16th century, the discovery of heliocentrism generated a public uproar and proceeded to trigger a revolution of sorts: it was strictly prohibited, even punishable by law, to believe that the Earth is not the centre of the universe. Nowadays, as we look up and turn our gaze towards the sky, filled with new and ever-evolving discoveries, we have fully come to terms with the idea that the outlines of our universe are constantly being remapped. Could there be a lesson to draw from this profound transformation of our beliefs regarding the inhabitable world?
Just as we have been able to completely change our understanding of the sky, over the past few centuries, we must now reform the way we read, hear, see, and accept human identities, genders, and desires. They must no longer be bound, rejected, nor oppressed by any restrictive or binary views—the time has come to reshape the sky. By celebrating human diversity as well as by shedding light on its suffering and redefining its outlines, this series invites us all to gently recognize and to ultimately understand ourselves and each other.
Reshaping the Sky is a multifaceted creation, both literary and photographic, but eschewing definition by one or the other. Rather, it is an iconoclastic and adventurous work of art, open and useful, all at once documentary and invention. It should be experienced as a work of beauty and pain, the result of patient and transformative listening on the part of its two creators Simon Emond and Michel Lemelin. Reshaping the Sky opens all sorts of possibilities to those who agree to open its pages—we hope it generates an uproar and sparks a great revolution.
“In this encounter between the testimonials of people identifying with the LGBTQ+ community and photographers haunted by mystery and sometimes flirting with abstraction, an atypical, and undeniably seductive, object comes to light.” – Ciel variable
64 pages (12 x 16″) + 32 interspersed pages (6 x 14″), Saddle stich binding, Offset black and white printing. Screen-printed plastic packaging. Editing : Sophie Gagnon-Bergeron. Design : Criterium, ISBN 978-2-9819041-0-2.
