Contact, a photobook by Harry Hawkes, documents the intoxicating bodies gathering in clubs post-pandemic, all in the name of human interaction.

In 2021, when the UK government lifted all restrictions on social gatherings, Harry Hawkes spent a number of nights photographing and documenting the reopening of clubs up and down the country.

On the cover you can see pull quotes of audio recordings taken from various clubs. These quotes jump between profound, heartbreaking, hilarious and predictably non-sensical, and felt like the perfect intro to the photographs that would be found within.

“I wanted to see how people reacted to that level of release after a year and a half of social restrictions, whether that energy was visible through photography and how important that moment was for people,​ It also came from my own desire to be back in nightclubs, to be surrounded by people and in a space that overloads the senses.” Harry Hawkes

“The book is predominantly about the necessity of human interaction, how the majority of us need physical touch and communication to develop and enjoy life,” Hawkes says. ​“It doesn’t matter who those people are, they can be friends but they can also be complete strangers.”

We used highly textured GF Smith Stock with hot foiling and embossing on the front, in and effort to use the sense of touch to reflect the concept of contact.