EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITHphotography by RICHARD SOUTH & COUCHSURFERS

EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITHphotography by RICHARD SOUTH & COUCHSURFERS

EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITHphotography by RICHARD SOUTH & COUCHSURFERS

In recent years I have become interested in the effects and the implications that online communities and in particular social media sites can have on both the identities of the users and also the community as a whole. As our lives become ever more connected through a series of hyperlinks, status up-dates, comments and tagged photographs it has become easier to share ideas and for social projects to happen, sometimes even on a global or revolutionary scale (Occupy, the Arab Spring, the re-launch of the Cadburys Whisper chocolate bar). Our culture online has now become a global one and what hap-pens on this personal “node in the network” level becomes extremely important and now has much wider implications for society as a whole.

I started this project by simply looking to profile members of specific online communi-ties, www.couchsurfing.com quickly became an obvious choice because it has the spe-cific goal of connecting people both online and offline. After hosting and being hosted I quickly realized that the sometimes-awk-ward micro relationships that were formed were something that I wanted to document through photography. What follows are a series of diary exerts and a selection of the photographs taken both of and by the mem-bers of this community.

INTRODUCTION

EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITHphotography by RICHARD SOUTH & COUCHSURFERS

A soiled copy of the old man and the sea by Earnest Hemmingway, a book about serial killers published by a national newspaper and a couple of old hardback Viz annuals were among the first things I noticed in the bookcase near her window. Dana likes Lykke Li records, colourful scarfs and skimmed milk, we both like green tea and celery. This book is an illustration of some of the micro relationships that were formed in 2011 via the social networking site couchsurfing. I met Dana at Belsize Park tube station near Camden. Sometimes you meet in public; sometimes you are given directions to homes and meet at front doors, there’s no “typical couch surfer”. yellow raincoats, writing down directions and walking through leaves in Hyde park. I try to notice things we have in common, we buy the same honey or we both shop at Tesco. When there are pauses you can try to find things in common its usu-ally not awkward but its good to be prepared. I tend to find myself staring at objects, or looking into open drawers and even some-times picking things up off surfaces, these actions are usually followed by questions or explanations.

its important to help with the washing up and attempting to leave no trace.I’m interested in photographing those pauses between conversations and the moment that we let the formalities slip. It can be as simple as drying hair, reading a magazine or drink-ing vodka from paper coffee cups. I found the only way I could accurately document this unusual arrangement was by sitting down and not trying to concentrate.The title for this book has been taken from Tracey Emin’s artwork “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995” The title is am-biguous but like Emin’s works this is not a document of sexual encounters, but rather an attempt to document the odd social inter-actions and human relations that take place in the grey area between an online commu-nity and the real.

RICHARD SOUTH

NOTES , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA TEA , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA HAIR DRYER , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA HAIR DRYER , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA DINNER , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA DINNER , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA MY BED , Belsize Park, London2011

LATVIANDANA IN BED , Belsize Park, London2011

RABAN92 STREET , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

RABAN92 STREET , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

RABAN92 STREET , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

CASEYLIVE , Student Village, Swansea2011

CASEYLIVE WINDOW , Student Village, Swansea2011

CASEYLIVE MAGAZINE, Student Village, Swansea2011

CASEYLIVE DINNER , Student Village, Swansea2011

CASEYLIVE DINNER, Student Village, Swansea2011

ESTELLE.MORRIS STREET , Portobello Rd, London2011

ESTELLE.MORRIS PARK , Portobello Rd, London2011

ESTELLE.MORRIS APPLESEED CAST , Portobello Rd, London2011

ESTELLE.MORRIS LUGGAGE , Portobello Rd, London2011

ELIZABETH CARLTON PHONE , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

ELIZABETH CARLTON BARE FEET , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

ELIZABETH CARLTON IN BED , Mount Pleasant, Swansea2011

EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITHphotography by RICHARD SOUTH & COUCHSURFERS

PHOTOGRAPHY© Richard South

TEXT© Richard South

The right of Richard South to be identified as the auther of this work has been asserted by him in the accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1998.

CONTACT INFORMATIONRichard Southr.south@hotmail.com07540938362