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Writer's pictureMonica Blignaut

Laurence Philomene


Artist 39 Laurence Philomene Femininity Photography


Laurence is an emerging non-binary photographer, director and curator living in Montreal/Toronto. Working around themes of colour theory, queerness and gender identity.

Alongside their own artistic practice, Philomene's work for clients including Netflix and Teen Vogue acts as a visceral exploration of gender identity, tenderness and colour theory. Fizzing with saturated colours, their images examine queer identity by using contrasting textures to create tension.




Conceptually, the relationship between camp and kitsch underpins much of Philomene's work, and they cite the "quintessentially queer" sense of rebellion in early John Waters films as a huge inspiration.




"I think a lot of it has to do with pushing it to the limit and taking camp to its extreme" They explain. "That's what makes art queer to me."


Philomene hopes to use photography to help people understand what queerness means to them, but this hasn't always been easy in such a heteronormative industry.



"I struggle with being taken seriously as a photographer outside of just being click-bait, or a convenient blog post to show that a brand/platform/magazine is inclusive for pride month." Says Philomene.


Moving forward, they would like to see more brands hire queer photographers, especially people of colour, to shoot campaigns and covers.


They also plan to keep encouraging people to embrace their own queerness, one bright colour at a time.





What I love about their photographic style is the vibrancy and use of body and form with the colour. But mostly the colour. I really love colour and from this quote:


"The most important thing about an image I create is its colors and the ways they interact with each other. I'd go as far as saying that color is more important to me than the subject or composition of an image." - Laurence Philomene


I see Philomene feels similarly. Amazing photography.



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