The project is divided into three chapters. For the first chapter, the couples took guided self-portraits during an intimate moment. I offered Blood Orange’s cover art for the album “Freetown Sound” as color/mood inspiration; I suggested warm colors/ earth-tones and I suggested couples use a bed as a possible prop/ background.

At first, I gave couples more specific directions about how to display intimacy because this project, at its very start, was supposed to explore physicality. I was interested to see how the physical limitations of the pandemic affected the way people craved physical touch. With the help of some of the artists and after more introspection, this project became more centered on intimacy and how that could include emotionality, vulnerability, physical touch and affection. Once “intimacy” became the central theme, couples had more creative freedom. The couples’ photos explore intimacy through physical affection, sensuality, mundanity, and acts of gender affirmation. 

The second chapter consists of voice memos. In the recordings, the couples introduce themselves and answer questions specific to their relationship dynamic. Couples were allowed to alter or opt-out of questions if they felt they were too personal. All of the couples that are documented in this project decided to answer all of the questions asked. In order to formulate the questions, I watched hours of interviews from THE AND and The Skin Deep. I also drew inspiration from questions that I have asked my best friends during intimate conversations.

For each couple, they were asked a question on: 

• A quality/ memory relating to their partner 

• A question about their love (description or specific memory)

• A question about their biggest challenge as a couple

• A question about their shared social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic 

The final chapter of the project consists of love letters. Each person wrote a love letter to their significant other and agreed to not show their partner until the project was published. I included this portion because I wanted to make the project a space for each person to think about what they loved about their partner. Now that the project is published, each person has the opportunity to learn more about what their partner loves about them. I liked that by doing this reveal, this project became a preservation of love.

Disclosure: Three of the six couples that were initially a part of this project broke up sometime between the start and publishing. One of the couples that broke up consented to still sharing their photos and voice memo interview. They chose not to be a part of the love letter portion. I am very grateful that this couple chose to share some aspects of their love even though they are not together anymore.