Simon Soon is a Lecturer in Art History and Curatorship at the University of Melbourne. He is a researcher, curator, and occasional artist with an abiding interest in 19th- and 20th-century art and visual culture in Southeast Asia and the broader Indian Ocean region. In addition to his academic work, Soon has an active curatorial practice. He has organised several major exhibitions, including Boom Boom Bang: Play and Parody in 1990s KL (2024), Bayangnya Itu Timbul Tenggelam: Photographic Cultures in Malaysia (2021) and Love Me in My Batik: Modern Batik Art from Malaysia and Beyond (2016) at Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. As an artist, he works collaboratively, to repurpose historical images from the public domain to explore their storytelling and myth-making potentials. His recent work was featured in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns (2024). Soon is a co-founder and editorial advisor of SOUTHEAST OF NOW: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, a peer-reviewed journal published by NUS Press. He is also a team member of the Malaysia Design Archive, an archival, research, and education platform dedicated to 20th-century visual cultures.