Perfect Strangers

This series was produced in 2018 in Levenshulme, Manchester. The project began with a call for participants posted in a local Facebook group for cat owners. While the presence of cats provided the initial point of access, the intention was not to document the animals themselves, but to use them as a social conduit: a way to enter unfamiliar domestic spaces and engage with individuals who might otherwise remain anonymous neighbours.

Each portrait was the result of a negotiation and collaboration between myself and the participant, shaped by mutual trust, curiosity, and the shared presence of a pet. The work explores ideas of proximity, community, and the quiet intimacy of encountering the unfamiliar in familiar contexts.

Perfect Strangers reflects on how pets, often seen as private companions, an also act as unexpected mediators of social connection and local belonging in contemporary urban life.