Lovers on Film
Gallery / 15 images
Love is in the air – and on the walls of Shoreditch’s Photobook Cafe – this Valentine’s weekend, as hearts beat in anticipation of the debut exhibition Lovers on Film. More than 13,000 sweethearts from around the world have submitted intimate, analogue photographs of themselves alongside their lovers, melting even the most frigid hearts. There’s a palpable sense of humanity in these images: candid snapshots captured in bedroom mirrors, bathroom reflections, and other familiar, private spaces. It feels both deeply personal yet entirely relatable.
Having spent the past five years managing this impressive archive of submissions, photographer Jack Gunn and his team now present a curated selection, proving that love is real – and can be found everywhere. “There’s something special about a moment that only happens once,” Gunn explains, noting that his love for photography began with a formative childhood experience in Norwich, where an art teacher first introduced him to the magical process of cyanotype. “Most of us have photographs from our childhood that we remember vividly, not because they’re perfect, but because they’re fixed in time and in a generation of AI and endlessly editable images, analogue photographs feel more important than ever.” Gunn points out the similarities between falling in love and analogue photography: “the patience, the excitement, the risk, the care you have to take, knowing you can’t endlessly redo the moment.”
Alexa Alexiades, Spain@alexa__alexiades
Having moved to London during the pandemic, Gunn became furloughed from his job working with one of the UK’s most prolific artists and began looking for something worthwhile to keep himself busy. “I had so much time on my hands, so I started the project with my partner at the time, Ance,” he says. “We wanted to create something about connection, something that lockdown made us all long for.” He says that Lovers on Film felt like it came out of nowhere, launching the Instagram account with a simple blue icon. “It filled a gap on our social media timelines that felt missing; something about love.”
With a wealth of beautiful moments that are each so personal to each couple, it’s hard to choose just one favourite amateur snap. “The most powerful ones are when there’s a story with the submission,” Gunn tells Dazed. “One particularly heartbreaking story from a girl named Jerah in the Philippines springs to mind. She sends the photograph and writes to me to tell me her boyfriend has sadly passed away, he was a huge fan of the project, and she wrote this beautiful poem about him to go along with the photograph that he had taken. It ends with the line: I am here with all my ashes, floating, drifting in circles just to come back to you again.”
“Maybe it’s me, or just London in February, but the world feels colder and colder,” Gunn says, describing an overarching sense of desolation that’s so present in both the online and offline world today. “The internet feels so cold and emotionless, and every post we see is competing with the next one.” The role of still imagery in the attention economy also raises concerns about how photography is perceived on a deeper level. “We almost need to retrain our brains to see the power in the mundane, the beauty of the quiet moments,” he reflects.
Cecília Blanco, Brazil@Cecisblanco
At its peak, Lovers on Film amassed 150,000 followers as it grew in popularity online. Inevitably, that surge of attention led to Instagram’s algorithm removing some of the more risqué images, alongside a punishing shadowban. Depressingly, Jack Gunn noticed that reports increased when the subjects were LGBTQ+. “It’s so awful that we live in such a world, but this is what art is for,” he says. It’s also why showing up in physical spaces, free from oppressive community guidelines, feels more important than ever.
So far, there have been over 10,000 submissions. If you’re reading this and are also interested in sending a photo through, then you’re more than welcome to do so through DMs on their Instagram and especially so if there’s a story attached. With hopeful plans for a future photobook, publishers should also get in contact.
Lania and Mani Reshad, Iran@deyr_e.moghan
“As this project turns six years old, it’s really made me look at the photographs from a new light,” Gunn concludes. “Some of these photos are now a record of a relationship that no longer exists.” He admits that love comes very naturally to him – almost too quickly, if anything. “I have struggled with it a lot in the past few years,” he reveals, heart on his sleeve. “But even in difficult times, you cannot give up hope with love – it means everything to me, really, which is why I feel so passionately about the project.” On the flip side, he candidly reveals the difficulty of seeing daily photographs of happy couples when you’re going through heartbreak. “But it shows that love does exist. You cannot give up.” If you are reading this, the curse is lifted. Have a good Valentine’s Day.
Lovers on Film is on show at Photobook Cafe in Shoreditch over Valentine’s Weekend, you can find the event poster here.