Located on Boulevard Gouin Ouest in Montreal, Collège Sainte-Marcelline is a private catholic school for children ages 4 to 17 years old. I attended this institution myself, studying under the nuns who taught there. I wondered then about their interior lives and private spaces. Years later, I still carry this curiosity.
Collège Sainte-Marcelline did not have many nuns; I can recall maybe a dozen. The nuns were not as present in elementary school as they were in high school; they became more of a presence as of 7th grade. They all taught religion, with the exception of two. One taught basic computer science, and the other was our counsellor.
I would not trade my time with the nuns of Sainte-Marcelline for anything. I was part of a close community then. I was treated like a little sister.
Born in Romania but raised in Canada and France, Isabelle Cimpan explores social, spiritual and cultural themes through her photography, drawings or paintings. Having studied Interior Design and Visual Arts at Dawson College, Cimpan currently studies photography at Concordia University. Since childhood, photography has always been a documentary medium for her. Wherever she was, she had a camera in hand to document absolutely everything. Follow her on Instagram: @isabelle_cimpan