I worked with Jess and Chris to create the copy for a photography ‘zine.

The pair met and collaborated on this project, the Third Place in 2018. The photographs are haunting depictions of American diners, the newly abandoned ‘third place’ in society, once buzzing with life.

I was fascinated by the project: captivated by the photographs and intrigued by the cultural history behind it. The pair needed words for their catalogue that would introduce them, give some background to the project and ignite interest in their ideas and thought processes.

It was a pleasure to work on something so creative. Our goal was to capture that timelessness, that stasis and that sense of being paused in time that you see in the photographs in the copy itself. To really accompany the photographs as best we could and to not break the spell for the reader.

Using words like deserted, ghostly, steeped and lost really helped us bring this to life.

The other challenge for this project was word count. Rightly, the images needed to be front and centre so we had very little room for the words. My tight word count made it extra challenging (and extra fun) to bring so much to life and say as much as I could in such a small space.

Ultimately, we ended the copy with an open thought or question, inviting the reader to go away and think more about what they’ve seen and learnt. Because surely the sign of a successful art project is if it leaves the reader reflecting on the topic.