{"id":1790115,"date":"2026-02-24T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1790115"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:29:00","slug":"this-photos-document-love-and-loss-in-times-of-political-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1790115","title":{"rendered":"This photos document love and loss in times of political crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438408.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/art-photography\/article\/69713\/1\/gracie-brackstone-photo-book-friendship-love-community-protest-london-manchester\" data-article-id=\"69713\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.51\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1400\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438408.jpg\" width=\"1545\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gracie Brackstone<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-02-24T14:29:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"24 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"24\">24,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - art-photography\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/lightbox\">Lightbox<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/lightbox\">Lightbox<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>This photos document love and loss in times of <span class=\"nowrap\">political crisis<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>\u2018The dance floors haven&#8217;t been healing me like they used to\u2019: Gracie Brackstone\u2019s Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss follows two turbulent years shaped by romance, grief, anger <span class=\"nowrap\">and raves<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-24T14:29:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"24 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"24\">24,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-24T14:29:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"24 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"24\">24,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/TiarnaMeehan\">Tiarna<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-41-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love <span class=\"nowrap\">&amp; Loss<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/0\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438421.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/1\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-379-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438403.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/2\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-120-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438404.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/3\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-54-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438405.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/4\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438406.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/5\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 41 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cWe have to look after each other because no one else will,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/graciebrackstone\/\">Gracie Brackstone<\/a> writes in <\/span><em><span>Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss<\/span><\/em><span>, her new photo book which traces the whiplash of life between 2024 and 2025. \u201cLife this year has been confusing \u2013 the best times of my life and also some of the hardest. I have a lot of anger at the world and frustration for not being able to change it. It\u2019s been both heaven and hell. Consumed by love and loss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>True to its title, the project captures how the extremes of human conditions exist alongside one another, as Brackstone captures what it means to exist at a time defined by political ruin, accelerating unrest, grief, love and the uneasy realisation that joy now exists under surveillance. These themes run throughout the book, captured in their different forms between London, Manchester and a trip to Barcelona, alongside equally confessional diaristic text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Much of the work documents her relationship with her girlfriend, Bambi, as the pair find love amidst the chaos around them. The images are tender, charged with the kind of bare-it-all romance usually reserved for private exchanges and handwritten letters. \u201cLove is the most grounding, yet most elevating experience,\u201d she explains, \u201cI think being in love right now, like a head over heels, beautiful, intoxicating kind of love, is one of the most powerful tools for resistance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"c9f36e15-e9c5-42e0-82c2-b3fa00bb05ae\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1545\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.51\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" width=\"1545\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gracie Brackstone<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>This love is also a space of soft landing for Brackstone, providing the refuge of being with someone who understands the weight of the world outside. \u201cIn times of political outbursts, where things seem absolutely insane, having my girlfriend there is genuinely just all I could ask for. We sit in her room and we speak about the world till the sun comes up, putting it to rights, dissecting things, being scared but safe with each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a care that extends to the community the couple have built around them: shots within the project are often populated by groups of friends, wielding placards at marches, deep in the sweaty enclosure of a festival tent or curled up on shorefront as dusk closes around them. \u201cI believe I am so passionate about life and connection because I have been in the depths of despair. I have lost my mum and one of my best friends, yet from that, I have learnt the meaning of what love truly means\u201d. This navigation of loss, and the anticipation of what\u2019s left to lose, threads throughout the series. One photograph of Brackstone\u2019s friend Ash, who passed away a year and a half ago, sits at its centre. \u201cShe was the epitome of community in Manchester; she cared and kiki\u2019d with everyone, so it made sense to have her at the heart of the book.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"bfc7235d-3335-40e9-84e8-b3fa00bb1dde\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1545\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438418.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.51\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438418.jpg\" width=\"1545\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gracie Brackstone<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While club nights, parties and grassy festival grounds appear frequently in the book, Brackstone is grappling with an increasingly uneasy relationship to Manchester&#8217;s rave scene. \u201cThe dance floors haven&#8217;t been healing me like they used to, the raves haven&#8217;t felt as bright, or as colourful, truth be told,\u201d she writes in the project\u2019s text. It\u2019s a disillusionment she can trace back to the intentions of people within the scene, drug issues and her overwhelming disappointment with the lack of political action within inherently political spaces of resistance. \u201cI would step into a rave and I felt like no one understood what was going on in the outside world and it really scared me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Brackstone instead found the community she was looking for at demonstrations throughout the city, among people who shared the same sense of outrage at the state of the world around them. \u201cWe have been socialised into conformity, scared to strike, scared to protest,\u201d she says, reflecting on a UK she feels is increasingly hostile to dissent. Many shots are of marches for trans rights and for Palestine, with images accompanied by bold proclamations like \u201cONE STRUGGLE, ONE FIGHT, PALESTINE AND TRANS RIGHTS\u201d and softer lines of text: \u201cI want to live to see all the dolls and divas turn a hundred years old,\u201d reads one caption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s in this way that <\/span><em>Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss<\/em><span> becomes a way of preserving these times, both as resistance to increasing political erasure and as the photographer\u2019s own personal remembrance. \u201cI want people to find hope in the project: hope that we can all unite, that we can build a better future together. Together, we are stronger than any elite power; there are so many more of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Gracie Brackstone on Instagram <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/graciebrackstone\/\">here<\/a> for more updates.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. 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class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">This exhibition opens up one of the world\u2019s largest photography collections<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69591\/1\/1-54-contemporary-african-art-fair-highlights-guide-marrakech-morocco\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ine\u0300s Abergel \" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/30-0-1518-1010\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437003.jpeg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair: 6 artists to have on your radar<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69633\/1\/ocean-vuong-song-photography-exhibition-nyc-nan-goldin-briefly-gorgeous\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ocean Vuong, S\u1ed1ng \" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-2-3000-1995\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437268.jpeg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Ocean Vuong photographs the people and places that shaped his writing<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-41-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love <span class=\"nowrap\">&amp; Loss<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/0\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438421.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/1\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-379-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438403.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/2\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-120-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438404.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/3\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-54-1024-682\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438405.jpg\" width=\"1024\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/4\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438406.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36727\/5\/gracie-brackstone-heaven-hell-love-loss\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" width=\"1536\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 41 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cWe have to look after each other because no one else will,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/graciebrackstone\/\">Gracie Brackstone<\/a> writes in <\/span><em><span>Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss<\/span><\/em><span>, her new photo book which traces the whiplash of life between 2024 and 2025. \u201cLife this year has been confusing \u2013 the best times of my life and also some of the hardest. I have a lot of anger at the world and frustration for not being able to change it. It\u2019s been both heaven and hell. Consumed by love and loss.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>True to its title, the project captures how the extremes of human conditions exist alongside one another, as Brackstone captures what it means to exist at a time defined by political ruin, accelerating unrest, grief, love and the uneasy realisation that joy now exists under surveillance. These themes run throughout the book, captured in their different forms between London, Manchester and a trip to Barcelona, alongside equally confessional diaristic text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Much of the work documents her relationship with her girlfriend, Bambi, as the pair find love amidst the chaos around them. The images are tender, charged with the kind of bare-it-all romance usually reserved for private exchanges and handwritten letters. \u201cLove is the most grounding, yet most elevating experience,\u201d she explains, \u201cI think being in love right now, like a head over heels, beautiful, intoxicating kind of love, is one of the most powerful tools for resistance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"c9f36e15-e9c5-42e0-82c2-b3fa00bb05ae\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1545\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.51\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gracie Brackstone, Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438407.jpg\" width=\"1545\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gracie Brackstone<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>This love is also a space of soft landing for Brackstone, providing the refuge of being with someone who understands the weight of the world outside. \u201cIn times of political outbursts, where things seem absolutely insane, having my girlfriend there is genuinely just all I could ask for. We sit in her room and we speak about the world till the sun comes up, putting it to rights, dissecting things, being scared but safe with each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a care that extends to the community the couple have built around them: shots within the project are often populated by groups of friends, wielding placards at marches, deep in the sweaty enclosure of a festival tent or curled up on shorefront as dusk closes around them. \u201cI believe I am so passionate about life and connection because I have been in the depths of despair. I have lost my mum and one of my best friends, yet from that, I have learnt the meaning of what love truly means\u201d. This navigation of loss, and the anticipation of what\u2019s left to lose, threads throughout the series. One photograph of Brackstone\u2019s friend Ash, who passed away a year and a half ago, sits at its centre. \u201cShe was the epitome of community in Manchester; she cared and kiki\u2019d with everyone, so it made sense to have her at the heart of the book.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"bfc7235d-3335-40e9-84e8-b3fa00bb1dde\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1545\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438418.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.51\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss\" class=\"img\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438418.jpg\" width=\"1545\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Gracie Brackstone<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While club nights, parties and grassy festival grounds appear frequently in the book, Brackstone is grappling with an increasingly uneasy relationship to Manchester&#8217;s rave scene. \u201cThe dance floors haven&#8217;t been healing me like they used to, the raves haven&#8217;t felt as bright, or as colourful, truth be told,\u201d she writes in the project\u2019s text. It\u2019s a disillusionment she can trace back to the intentions of people within the scene, drug issues and her overwhelming disappointment with the lack of political action within inherently political spaces of resistance. \u201cI would step into a rave and I felt like no one understood what was going on in the outside world and it really scared me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Brackstone instead found the community she was looking for at demonstrations throughout the city, among people who shared the same sense of outrage at the state of the world around them. \u201cWe have been socialised into conformity, scared to strike, scared to protest,\u201d she says, reflecting on a UK she feels is increasingly hostile to dissent. Many shots are of marches for trans rights and for Palestine, with images accompanied by bold proclamations like \u201cONE STRUGGLE, ONE FIGHT, PALESTINE AND TRANS RIGHTS\u201d and softer lines of text: \u201cI want to live to see all the dolls and divas turn a hundred years old,\u201d reads one caption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s in this way that <\/span><em>Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss<\/em><span> becomes a way of preserving these times, both as resistance to increasing political erasure and as the photographer\u2019s own personal remembrance. \u201cI want people to find hope in the project: hope that we can all unite, that we can build a better future together. Together, we are stronger than any elite power; there are so many more of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Gracie Brackstone on Instagram <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/graciebrackstone\/\">here<\/a> for more updates.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69713\/1\/gracie-brackstone-photo-book-friendship-love-community-protest-london-manchester&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-0-1536-1024\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438408.jpg&#8221;] Photography Gracie Brackstone February\u00a0 24,\u00a0 2026 Art &amp; Photography \/ Lightbox Art &amp; Photography \/ Lightbox This photos document love and loss in times of political crisis \u2018The dance floors haven&#8217;t been healing me like they used to\u2019: Gracie Brackstone\u2019s Heaven &amp; Hell, Love &amp; Loss follows two turbulent years shaped by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1790115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1790115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1790115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1790115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1790115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}