Feature Illustration for BBC Science Focus Magazine “Lack of Touch Is Harming Our Health” by Dr David Cox. Studies in this field, exploring the nature of ‘touch hunger’ or ‘touch deprivation,’ had previously focused on isolated older adults, but after COVID-19 they expanded to cover all age groups. This included a population normally considered to be the least vulnerable to touch deprivation: the young.” This feature consists of three spreads, I knew that an article in this vein would usually employ the concept of something missing, or a hole. This made me even more determined to draw on my own feelings around the article’s findings. This journey brought me back to Edward Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks’. Hopper portrays the paradox of being surrounded by a sprawling city amidst the race for modernisation, yet feeling profoundly alone. The diners are physically close but psychologically distant. Painted just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the piece reflects the era’s collective anxiety, curfews, and the eerie, glowing “blackout” atmosphere of New York City. Once I started working with the hands in their isolated worlds I knew that the addition of phones, distance and a voyeuristic perspective would really capture the atmosphere I was aiming for.

Art Director, Joe Eden