Jean-Sébastien Veilleux
Digital artist - Photographer - Cinemagraph creator
APPROACH
​
Jean-Sébastien Veilleux is a photographer and digital artist committed to climate action. He takes an intuitive approach to exploring nature, both in his immediate environment and through landscapes that speak to memory and human experience. Incorporating aspects of digital art—including cinemagraph, augmented reality, virtual reality and video mapping—is integral to his practice and projects.
Mindful of the interconnectedness of things, he develops hybrid narratives that bring out the dreamlike and contemplative qualities of his digital images and interactive installations. Somewhere between photography and moving image, these compositions weave a dialogue between self, nature and other.
Alongside this highly personal work, Jean-Sébastien Veilleux also develops cultural mediation projects. The goal of these projects is to bring the public into every aspect of the creative process; no longer simply viewers, they are directly involved in interactive installations, which feature exceptional settings such as the St. Lawrence River or the boreal forest. As such, the approach becomes open and inclusive. The artist encourages meaningful encounters as a way to lead the public through the digital project, shape the artistic process and orient the final result.
Jean-Sébastien Veilleux embraces a broad scope of digital possibilities. In doing so, he invites communities to take care of their surroundings through conservation and respect for the environment. Revisiting the way the medium can evolve through mediation, the artist uses multifunctional technological tools, repurposing their codes to build his vision of the photographic narrative.
BIO
​
Born in Alma and raised in Beauce, Jean-Sébastien Veilleux was first introduced to photography by his father. In the 1990s, he launched his own communications agency. As a director of photography, he collaborated with other professional photographers on various artistic and commercial projects. He continued his studies in interactive scriptwriting at the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS) in Montréal and completed his professional training at the Institut de la photographie.
​
In 2011, inspired by his travels and various collaborations, he decided to settle in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli and to set up his studio there. As well as a welcoming community, he also discovered the vast local creativity and know-how—something he was always on the lookout for during his career as a photographer. Music, dance and visual arts inspire his work, along with nature, reflected and magnified by the St. Lawrence River. His digital creations, which bring in augmented and virtual reality, are developed as photographic narratives that place the viewer at the heart of the story.
As an artist-entrepreneur, Jean-Sébastien Veilleux has several gallery exhibitions to his name, as well as mediation projects (both online and in-person) and interactive installations presented at the Musée maritime du Québec, among others. He regularly collaborates with scientists and artist-run centres that explore current practices in digital arts.
​
The CALQ, the CCA and the Fonds d’action Saint-Laurent support his creative projects, which include ESPACEment, Dialogue avec le fleuve and L’Écho des fluides in collaboration with singer and actress Chloé Ste-Marie. In 2019, he received the Prix Monique-Miville-Deschênes de la Culture for his contribution to artistic and cultural excellence in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. He is also the recipient of the Prix du CALQ 2021 – Artiste de l’année (CALQ prize for Artist of the Year) for the Chaudière-Appalaches region. For this award, the members of the jury emphasized the artist’s ability to bring people together through his practice, as well as his approach of ecological awareness and the moving, inspiring and unique works that result.
​
Jean-Sébastien Veilleux has travelled extensively in Quebec and abroad, often leading a nomadic life. He has recently adopted “vanlife,” finding it resonated with his minimalist values. The artist has deliberately chosen to follow this path, of travelling, meeting people and discovering places that nurture his inspiration and creativity. He currently divides his work between Montréal and Saint-Jean-Port-Joli.
DISTINCTIONS
​
Prix du CALQ 2021 – Artiste de l'année en Chaudière-Appalaches
Prix Monique Miville-Deschênes de la culture 2018
Recognition from the FAQDD (Fonds d’action québécois pour le développement durable)
Flixel Cinemagraph global Top 5 – April 2017
CAREER
​
Spring 2023
ESPACEment - In situ Augmented Reality Installation
Naval Park - Musée Maritime du Québec, L'Islet (indeterminate duration)
​
Spring 2022
Exhibition - Stellaires - Mois de la Poésie de Québec (artist collective)
Video mapping - Centre Go ( May 7 to June 14, 2022 )
​
Fall 2021
Exposition - Regards croisés sur le patrimoine agricole (MRC de l’Islet)
Musée de la mémoire vivante – from September 24, 2021 to March 1, 2022
​
Printemps 2021
Exposition installation interactive L’Écho des fluides - Musée Maritime du Québec à L'Islet
Du 19 mai au 11 octobre 2021
​
Mars 2021
CALQ – Grant received – creation, production, outreach / Digital Arts for the ESPACEment project, an immersive augmented reality experience
​
Fall 2020
Immersive online photo exhibition - Immersive online photo exhibition – À la recherche des Créatures de grève, virtual exhibition (Canada Council for the Arts, Digital Originals)
Canada Council for the Arts strategic funds and Digital Originals grant Digital Arts – À la recherche des Créatures de grève, virtual exhibition. Launched end of November 2020
​
Galerie Nomade – JSVart exhibition in reduced version, featuring photography and cinematographs displayed in a Boler trailer, July 2020
​
Fall 2019
La Rencontre exhibition (in collaboration with L’Islet RCM) Est-Nord-Est (ENE) artist-run centre
​
Summer 2019
Sale of a LIVING CANVAS art work - Disappear in the origins
​
Le Vivoir art gallery exhibition–Installation of LIVING CANVAS work
​
2018
Winner of the Prix de la culture Monique Miville-Deschênes
​
Photography exhibition at the Oberammergau sculpture museum in Germany, featuring a selection of photographs from the Biennale de la sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, 2018
​
Spring 2019
Launch of the www.dialogueaveeclefleuve.xyz interactive platform
Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père - Rimouski.
​
Fall 2018
Presentation of Dialogue avec le fleuve interactive installation, and creation of an on-site cinemagraph at Cégep Sept-Îles as part of the Saveurs du fleuve activity (ZIP)
​
Grant for the development of the www.dialogueaveeclefleuve.xyz environmental art platform
Stratégies Saint-Laurent
​
Presentation of Dialogue avec le fleuve interactive installation – Tadoussac
Summer 2018
L’Amorce l’Échos des fluide phase 2 - Musée Maritime du Québec
September 2017
CALQ – Grant received - creation, production, outreach / digital arts for the L’Écho des fluides project
April 2017
Top 5 mondial Flixel Cinemagraph
Summer 2016
Exhibition Sabrer L’oubli – joint photography and sculpture exhibition with Marie-Claude Hains
Montmagny library museum
Fall 2016
Publication of the Fabriquer l’improbable photo book – photography in collaboration with ENE
​
Summer 2015
Créatures de grève photography exhibition
Centre Socioculturel Gérard Ouellette
Creation of a series of 13 studio portraits featuring well-known personalities from Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, transformed into shoreline creatures.
This project has received financial support from a regional agreement.
​
Spring 2016
Sale of photographic art works to benefit the Jovia Foundation
Spring 2015
Sabrer L’oubli, joint exhibition of photography and sculptures
Musée Maritime du Québec
Spring 2014
Sale of photographic art works to benefit the Jovia Foundation
​
June 2014
Trajet des mémoires… Group exhibition Maison de la culture – Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montréal
​
September 2014
Des Voisins en Art exhibition as part of the Journée de la Culture (Saint-Jean-Port-Joli)
​
Summer 2005
INIS end-of-study grant for the creation of the Souffle d’humain interactive project
​
​
​
​
CONTACT
​
> jsv@jsv.art
​
> Instagram
​
> Facebook