"The American road in all its recalcitrant splendour: large cars, large signs, large spaces, large dreams and promises of freedom now abandoned. Leah Frances catalogues this suspended mythology; a departure point for dark and dreamy stories." — Double Decker UK
Bill Shapiro, Esquire
“A lovingly photographed ode to the diners, taverns, and hardworking snack joints in hardworking American towns. To explore the divide in our country, Leah Frances spent years shooting spots where people gather, and where linoleum counters, wood paneling, and hand-painted signs are as common as eggs, bacon, and coffee. (Only 500 copies were printed, so order up.)"
— Our Favorite Photo Books of Fall 2022
Lunch Poems
Published by Aliens in Residence
Photographs by Leah Frances
Essay by Richard J.S. Gutman
Details
65 color photographs
100 pages, 7×9 inches
Hardcover; section sewn
Edition Size: 500
Price: $45
*A very limited quantity can also be purchased in person at the MoMA PS1 bookstore, NYC
The photographs in Lunch Poems highlight “third spaces”: communal settings outside of home and work such as taverns, church picnics, diners, restaurants, and movie theaters — sites where we might gather, if we could agree. Actively using photography to explore the residue of time and human effort, I create portraits of place, mindful of the individuals who have been there before and may be there again. Imaginary one-to-one conversations with these ghosts, so to speak, allow me to invest in the possibility that within this divided nation, we might, one day, understand and respect each other. Harnessing light to grasp at moments of joy in complicated environments, with these images I hope to forge an opening for deep looking and the exploration of multiple layers of meaning, an encounter with complex histories rather than one-dimensional, familiar tropes.
Select Press for “Lunch Poems”
09/2022: The Guardian, The Observer New Review, The melancholy of an empty American diner – in pictures
09/2022: Lomography Magazine, Documenting American Artifacts
09/2022: The Washington Post, Photographing America’s diners: When nostalgia becomes political
10/2022: Esquire, Lunch Poems a Favorite Photo Book of Fall ‘22
10/2022: Buzzfeed, A Canadian Photographer Found A New Creative Angle On The Iconic American Diner
11/2022: “Lunch Poems” makes The Luupe’s annual "best photobooks by women + non-binary photographers"
11/2022: Lehigh Valley Live, Easton photographer’s book probes American division through small-town diners