We are drawn to the structure of the photopoetry book because it brings our work, which wrestles with (in)tangibility, into a physical form, representing the necessary emergence that follows chrysalis. Inviting other people into our sequestered world allows us to share the physicality and sensation representative of our book, our friendship, and our artistry. A large part of our creative process with this project has been curating our pieces to communicate with each other via the book’s physical structure. We dream that as people explore the book, on their own and with company, revisiting it over time, they discover spreads that call to them in different ways. To flip through a book from your shelf or coffee table repeatedly over years is its own form of intimacy.

Using a boustrophedon accordion construction, the design of the book is made from one sheet of paper which allows the viewer to experience and explore a multitude of spreads. The current artist draft is on a 18”x24” paper sheet, then cut and folded down to 4”x5.5” for each page.  The book can be read front-to-back and back-to-front, concealing a few pages that are harder to find, allowing for unique image pairings to appear. We’ve lovingly coined a few of these moments “secret spreads.” This method allows for the reader to create an array of potential interactions between photos and poetry, giving a sense of agency in discovering new sequences and making meaning of them. To further facilitate the viewer’s physical connection, we’ve sewed in additional signatures of hand-written poems on vellum sheets. 

The ebb and flow of our friendship has informed the pace of this book’s making. To explore the overlap of our interests and desires, we made images on photo walks, created still lifes, and discussed poetry together. Both of us continuously informed the other’s process, drawing attention to what compelled us and fed into the overarching ideas we were exploring. We curated this book, seeing where our separate practices intersected and diverged.