Alastair Jackson has spent the last 18 months photographing & travelling around his native Hebrides of Scotland, putting together enough work for a book-length publication. Concurrently, he has been accumulating images of the slightly odd, unique things he has seen by these island roadsides. These images are part of a small series, ‘Strange Currencies’. Alastair likes to move between and amongst different genres of art, and his first book with poet Kenneth Steven was longlisted for the Highland Book Prize in 2019. He also published a zine, ‘Futures Past & Present’ with ADM Publishing in 2021. Find his website here.
These photos were taken on the Oregon coast near sunset as a storm was beginning to blow mist in from the ocean, which, combined with the expired film, resulted in a pleasant, almost silkscreen-like effect in the form of large, prominent grain. The title is inspired by a man who was praying aloud at the water’s edge for hours (pictured in “Acolyte #1”). He and I were the only two on the bluffs that day, and the solitude and his spirituality, coupled with the incoming gray storm, lent a powerful yet peaceful aura to the area, which reminded me of being in a cemetery – but for something much larger than us.
Raye Hendrix is a writer and photographer from Alabama. Raye is the author of the poetry chapbooks ‘Every Journal Is A Plague Journal’ (Bottlecap Press) and ‘Fire Sermons’ (Ghost City Press). She is the winner of the 2019 Keene Prize for Literature and Southern Indiana Review’s 2018 Patricia Aakhus Award. Their written work appears in Poetry Daily, American Poetry Review, 32 Poems, The Adroit Journal, and others, while their photography appears in North American Review, Olney Magazine, Press Pause Press, and various newspapers. Raye is the Poetry Editor of Press Pause Press and co-edits DIS/CONNECT: A Disability Literature Column from Anomalous press. Raye is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Oregon. Find out more here.
Claire Nora is 25 years old. A bored poet living in the city of Lagos (Nigeria), she loves writing, taking pictures, reading and thinking. She believes in the simplicity of life and the Chaos of being subtle. When she isn’t doing any of the things above, she’s studying law in a lawless Country. Find her on Twitter (@Clairenora1).
Fabio Sassi makes photos and acrylics that take the everyday and ordinary and frame it in a different way. He lives in Bologna, Italy and his work can be viewed online.
Originally from Missouri, Sherry Morris writes prize-winning fiction from a farm in the Scottish Highlands where she pets cows, watches clouds and dabbles in photography. She reads for the wonderfully wacky Taco Bell Quarterly and her first published story was about her Peace Corps experience in Ukraine. See more on her website and follow her on Twitter (@Uksherka).
Praveena Pulendran is a 21-year-old creative from London. She enjoys photography, flowers, and the colour pink! Her passion for mixed media often merges with her poetry, creating mini art pieces tucked away in scrappy notebooks.
All the time on the train today I have imagined you feeding me ice-cream, chocolate and distinct, from an elegant spoon.
Perhaps we have arrived at the Grand Café – there must be a table in the mirror’s eternity. The train has stalled at Arisaig – should I wait?
Alice Willington won second prize in the 2009 Ledbury Poetry Competition. Her poems have appeared in Magma, Under the Radar and other magazines. Her pamphlet Long After Lights Out (Eyewear) was published in November 2015.
Paths, whether footbridges or dirt roads or railroads, indisputably exist with a purpose. They were never intended to be deserted when they were created. But paths are deserted, as though such a fate is inevitable.
I often wonder: Do they face existential crises when they are deserted? Do they continue to stand alone with hope and faith or do they continue to stand out of helplessness?
But the question that haunts me is this: Are they wary of the indifference of their surroundings? To me, the word ‘empty’ signifies emotional emptiness, and the word ‘spaces’ means physical places; but when I put the two words together, ‘empty spaces’ remind me of the indifference of the universe towards deserted places.
Through this photograph series, allow me to take you to three deserted paths I found during my 2020 pre-pandemic trip to the northern districts of West Bengal in India – or as we collectively call them, North Bengal. There were tourists around me, albeit a handful, yet these paths stood deserted either completely or for a moment in time.
Suntaleykhola, a village and tourist attraction in Eastnar Forest (Gorubathan, Kalimpong District in West Bengal, India). A footbridge stands over a stream, alone and drenched in rain while the hills and her trees remain indifferent.
Jaldapara National Park, home to the largest population of the nearly extinct Indian one-horned rhinos, at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas on the banks of the Torsa River (Alipurduar District in West Bengal, India). A dirt road stands in the middle of a clearing, alone, while the forest and her creatures remain indifferent.
Ellenbarrie Tea Garden, a privately owned tea estate between National Highway 17 and the Teesta River (Malbazar, Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal, India). A railroad stands in the middle of a tea garden, alone while the tea plantations and their underpaid workers remain indifferent.
Tejaswinee Roychowdhury is an Indian lawyer, writer, poet, artist and photographer. Her works have been published worldwide and can be found on her website. Twitter (@TejaswineeRC).
My visual art is inspired by emotionally transportive experiences during my walks –a perceived enchantment of being the only one in the world, or a sense of wonder from so much ordinary beauty. I take spontaneous photographs of landscapes and empty urban spaces, capturing the purity of a fleeting witnessed moment. My images are often dream-like and timeless, evoking feelings of nostalgia, mystery, and solitude.
Spaces Inside Spaces
When I took ‘Spaces Inside Spaces’ I was inside a crowded international airport on a busy travel weekend. Yet wandering just a few gates away, I found myself strangely alone in unoccupied, abandoned spaces.
The Ethereal Nothingness
With ‘The Ethereal Nothingness’, I had woken one morning to the lure of ship horns sounding in the fog. I took my camera down to the sea and disappeared into the mist.
Karin Hedetniemi is a nonfiction writer and photographer from Vancouver Island, Canada. Her atmospheric images appear in numerous literary journals including Barren Magazine, CutBank and Parentheses; on the covers of Pithead Chapel and 3Elements Review; and have been nominated for Best of the Net. Find her online or on Twitter (@karinhedet).
Briefly Write 