The Cusp of July

The Cusp of July is a handmade photobook with my writing and photography stitched together. The book was made between 2024-2025 and self-published in 2025. It is currently being stocked in Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin.

It takes place over 5 summers of my life growing up in Belfast, from 2016 to 2020. The photos are of my friends and surroundings alongside a written stream of consciousness exploring nostalgia, melancholy and longing in the summer months. The writing is based off memories and journal entries. All of the images are shot on film from this creative and experimental time in my life.

This project started as an archive of my old images and evolved into this story. I was moved with how the photographs captured my friends growing up and evolving from summer to summer. I also felt I captured this specific feeling of the freedom and togetherness in the summers between school years. The long and motionless summers before we came of age and entered the real world.

It is 150mm x 100mm x 104pp landscape, side-bound loosely with twine. The blue hardback fabric cover is handmade with a cut out for the cover photograph to peek through.