Loved&Lost - Publication Plan
Loved&Lost invites participants to explore their experience of loss through the re-staging of family photographs and interview. So far, it has reached an audience of around 2.5 million people worldwide through features on BBC Breakfast TV, BBC Radio, BBC News frontpage, The Guardian and the project website. Loved&Lost has been presented at The Southbank Centre and Oriel Colwyn (Colwyn Bay), with upcoming exhibitions at Manchester Cathedral (Spring 2019) and Sheffield Museum (December 2019). The project began 5 years ago after the loss of my father, and has become even more poignant for me since the loss of my younger sister in May, the strongest possible reminder that it’s important to share our stories of loss and how we find our way through the grief that comes with it. You can view the stories from the project, including my own, here.
Exhibitions and Commissions - Sheffield Museum
I am about to start work on a commission from Sheffield Museum to make new stories for the project, to be exhibited alongside existing stories at Weston Park Gallery, Sheffield, December 2019 - March 2020. This will be the first major exhibition of Loved&Lost, inviting a significant new audience to the project through engagement in the gallery and through associated press and promotional activities.
Book Volumes
It has been a long term aim to publish some of the stories from Loved&Lost in a physical format. So far, the stories have been displayed online, and will continue to be, as a free resource for anyone anywhere in the world wanting to engage with other’s stories of loss. However, I feel there is a market for books containing these stories and I have spent the last few months establishing the best way to do that.
I want to release the stories in volumes, featuring the original and re-staged images, supporting photographs and interview transcriptions. They will be around 100 pages each, with each volume containing 5 stories. The first two volumes will be released to coincide with the opening of the exhibition in December, feature the 10 stories displayed within the exhibition and sold through the museum shop, online and in book shops nationwide. Releasing the stories in volumes allows the books to be both affordable (for the publisher and consumer) and also shareable. This is something I have learnt from feedback from readers, that they often want to share the stories with friends and family who have encountered loss in their lives.
I have considered compiling all 22 stories into one publication, but I feel this would not only be overwhelming for the reader (as it would be huge!), it would require a significant amount of editing down of every story, it doesn’t feel economical and it would very much mark an end to the project, which isn’t something I want to commit to at this stage.
Based on current estimates, I would like to publish 1000 copies each of Volumes 1 & 2.
Designer - Craig Oldham
It’s a privilege to have Craig on board to design the publications. Craig is a Designer, Educator, Writer, Procrastinator, Publisher, Campaigner, Website-Up-Putter, and Yorkshireman. In just over 10 colourful years, Craig has won almost every industry award going and been named as one of the most influential designers working in the UK today. His work has been described as “absolutely magnificent” by The Guardian; “passionate and impressive” by Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum; “Superb” by Jeremy Deller; “Terrific” by Ken Loach; and “Beautiful” by Grayson Perry.
Publisher
I’m currently exploring options, having conversations with various publishers and also considering self publishing the volumes.
Funding
Everything within Loved&Lost has been personally funded until this point, so I am currently exploring options for private funding and sponsorship to help support the publication of the first two volumes.
If you have any questions about the publishing plan, would like to know more about the project, or want to support or publish the books, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. simonj.bray@gmail.com
