I am not,
I am not my name – it is just a sound,
I am not the garment of my mind,
I am not my body – my visual voice,I
am not a story in endless space.
( Mona Simon 5.10.15 Phnom Penh)
Birth – 1990 – Transylvania / Romania
Mona Simon was born into a rural multicultural environment, belonging to a vanishing German, Transylvanian Saxon minority. With the Communism collapsing she saw her family, her history, her cultural identity and an entire worldview
collapsing, all at the same time. She was 10 , when she left her valley in the Carpathians. Here she learned to live with the rhythms of nature, within a strong social bond nurtured by traditions of brotherhoods
and sisterhood for over 800 years. The valley was her world, she knew every stone and the trees called her by her names.
1990 – 2005 Germany
Now she was an immigrant, a lonely child of struggling divorcing parents in a modern developed country. Mona Simon is sure that some basic experiences stay with us, they shape us, leave traces in our mind, body and heart, leave us with questions and insights. Nothing is permanent, not even identity, be it personal or cultural. What remains is a temporarily created concept, a beloved illusion that will one day become a memory.The themes Mona Simon explores have to do with the meaning of identity and belonging in an age of cultural change.The camera is not just a tool, it is a friend for Mona, allowing her to observe the world. In doing so, she hopes to find meaning and to form and understand her personal perspective on life.
2005/6 Cuba / Studies at ISDI Havana
2006 – 2008 Germany 2006 Bachelor of Arts, HfK Bremen
Mona Simon completes her Bachelor of Arts in 2006 at the University of Arts Bremen with ‘La Revolution’, a multimedia project including
photography, a book and a film. The Project is a personal reflection on the relationship between happiness and lack in Cuban Communism. To create this multimedia project, she spends 7 months in Cuba studying design and
photography at the Instituto de Diseño Industrial, in La Habana.
‘La Revolucion’ received the Best Project Award at the Bremen University of the Arts.
2008 -2012 UK 2008 MA Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, UK
End 2008, Mona Simon completes her Masters with an award-winning project called ‘Memories of a Beloved Place’, photographed in Transylvania, Romania – This internationally exhibited series won the Amnesty International Human
Rights Award in 2009, as well as the Canon Profifoto Förderpreis 09 and the Photographers Giving Back Award Portrait Prize, 2010. In the same year she takes part in the Körber Photo Prize, Germany and exhibits her project ‘Loud Silence’ in the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg.
After 4 years in London, the artist moves to Cambodia, where she spends 7 years collaborating artistically with various humanitarian and environmental NGOs.
2012 – 2019 Cambodia
During this period several photographic projects are being created on the topic of female identity and resilience.Including 2014 The Missing Code, 2016 The Golden Women (art activism)2018 The Mangrove Project collaborative
documentary project with filmmaker Kalyanee Mom2019 The Nun’s Path, A photo/film/word project on gender equality issues in Theravada Buddhism.
2019- 2022 Deutschland
Since her return to Germany, Mona Simon has devoted herself to studying the art of energy healing while at the same time working on a book and exhibition concept. She aims to bring the lessons of her previous projects into a
format that transports their meaningful stories and puts them in a common context.
Mona Simon says: Through the art of observation, we get to know our inner and outer stories, we can become aware of who we are on a personal and a collective level, and comprehend how our cultural, social, environmental conditioning has impacted our Self Image and our live’
s experiences.
EXHIBITIONS / AWARDS / PUBLICATIONS
2020 Group Exhibition (Enviornmental Activism) ATMOSPHERES OF VIOLENCE, Gallery ONCA, Brighton
2019 Documentary Book Projekt for GIZ Cambodia (Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit)
2018 Dignity Cambodia, artistic activism : The Nun’s Path – a Project aiming to raise awareness about gender issues in Theravada Buddhism, exhibited and shared in Cambodia
2017 The Mangrove Project, cooperative documentary project with Filmmaker Kalyanee Mom
2016 ‘Dignity Cambodia’ – artistic activism against domestic violence – Project Coordination, Art-consultancy
2015 ‘Dignity Cambodia’ – artistic activism against domestic violence for the local woman empowering NGO CEDAW
2014 ‘The missing Code’ – Photographic exploration on international Women and Identity
2013 ‘The Land of Spirits’ – Personal documentary Project Exploration on Mysticism in Burma.
2013 ‘Butterfly Children’– Siem Riep, commissioned
by Geo Germany
2012 Exhibition to raise awareness on Wildlife issues, Cambodia.
2011 Kodak Sponsorship, ‘The Caldarari’ – Traditional Roma in Transylvania
2010 PDN Faces first Prize Winner Environmental Portrait , USA
2010 ‘The paradise is female’ Documentary Project on Matriarchy in China
2010 Participation Körber Foto Award , Germany
2010 Winner Photographers giving Back Award
– Portrait Prize , USA
2010 Exhibition Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie
2009 ‘Laute Stille‘ Project commissioned by Körber Photo Prize, Germany and exhibits her project ‘Loud Silence’ in the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg.After 4 years in London, the artist moves to Cambodia, where she spends 7 years collaborating artistically with various humanitarian and environmental NGOs.2012 – 2019 CambodiaDuring this period several photographic projects are being created on the topic of female identity and resilience.Including 2014 The Missing Code, 2016 The Golden Women (art activism)2018 The Mangrove Project collaborative documentary project with filmmaker Kalyanee Mom2019 The Nun’s Path, A photo/film/word project on gender equality issues in Theravada Buddhism.2019- 2022 Deutschland Since her return to Germany, Mona Simon has devoted herself to studying the art of energy healing while at the same time working on a book and exhibition concept. She aims to bring the lessons of her previous projects into a format that transports their meaningful stories and puts them in a common context.Mona Simon says: Through the art of observation, we get to know our inner and outer stories, we can become aware of who we are on a personal and a collective level, of how our cultural, social, environmental conditioning has impacted our Self Image and our liveeloved Place‘ – Documentary Project, Transylvania, Romania, exhibited internationally
2006 Best Project Award University of Arts Bremen
2005 ‘Viva la Revolution’, Book and Documentary Film about Cuba
2004 Viverevenezia3, ’Way-finding System Venice, Book and Exhibition