TITLE: HHUUGG 1/2/3
PHOTOGRAPHY + EDITORIAL DESIGN: paula roush
MODELING & STYLING: hugo santos
MEDIUM: 3 photozines
DIMENSIONS: 21 x 29.7 cm
PAPER: 90 gsm tracing paper + 120 gsm fabriano paper
BINDING: loose leaf in slipcase
PROCESS: laser
COLOUR: black and white
PAGES: 36 pages, some with acrylic ink monotypes [HHUUGG 1]
42 pages [HHUUGG 2], 64 pages, some with cut-outs and collages [HHUUGG 3]
PUBLISHER: msdm publications
YEAR: 2019
First print run: 50
£89 (free shipping)
Order your copy via msdm store [+]

HHUUGG1

36 pages 29.7 x 21 cm
Laser print on fabriano paper,
machine sewn, cover and a
selection of pages are
individually customised
with acrylic ink
monotypes

HHUUGG2

44 pages 29.7 x 21 cm
Laser print on fabriano paper
machine sewn

HHUUGG3

52 pages 29.7 x 21 cm
laser print on fabriano paper
+ 12 pages insert
29.7 x 21 cm
printed on tracing paper
A selection of pages are
individually customised with
cut-outs and collages
machine sewn

Once a week, like a ritual regularly enacted to keep a friendship alive, Hugo visits me in the studio. They always bring a selection of clothes -found, vintage and new- from their personal archive. Things collected here and there, like a prayer skirt from Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a Charles Jeffrey Loverboy kilt, or a pair of Tabi boots from a collaboration between Maison Margiela and DSM.

When dressed up and ready for a shoot, we drift around the three storey building, looking for inspiration. For HHUUGG1, we grabbed a bunch of wildflowers just harvested from the neighbouring park.
For HHUUGG2, we followed a ray of sunlight striking a mouldy wall.
And HHUUGG3 came about whilst Strange Things Series 3 streamed on the Reception room’s smart TV.
We play. We improvise. There is never a plan. We follow a manifesto we wrote with our friend Travis outlining three mindfulness principles in the studio’s practice.
Be grateful for the moment unfolding around us.
Follow the bliss of infinite creative source.
Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

The results keep surprising us. When we decided to share them through a publication, our friend Constantine suggested Hugo as title, in the tradition of photographers’ zines named after their models.

Hugo is actually the modern german form, the old name Hugh meaning Mind-Thought-Soul. It is so wholesome that we settle for HUG.
Not just HUG though, but HHUUGG spelled twice [HUG HUG].
For Give me hug, are 3 magic words we say each other every
time we feel pure joy and we embrace to celebrate.
And also, in deference to the kundalini yoga mantra har-har
that sounds like hud-hud.
The vibration of the heart has the power to clear all blocks preventing one from manifesting prosperity and success in the world.

Namaste.