Artist Biography
Simon Dawn Cassels (They/Any) is a Scottish, non-binary artist from Newtongrange, a small former mining village nestled within Midlothian, Scotland.
Their work emerges from a queer, disabled / autistic working-class perspective; using Scots Language and Gàidhlig - in tandem with nature based, folkloric imagery and poetry - as a method of exploring the pressures of living under capitalism and the search for rest and kindness within an often harsh world.
Along with botanical illustration and conservation, Simon is deeply interested in depicting a domestic, candid representation of queerness: capturing quiet, everyday moments that reflect the complexities of lived identity and longing, while exploring the thoughts and experiences that accompany a life continuously put on pause by external forces.
