Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories

2022 Selection

Designed by Alex Synge at Alex Synge

Editor: Adam Nathaniel Furman

Editor: Joshua Mardell

Commissioning Editor: Clare Holloway

Production: Jane Rogers

Endpaper Design: Adam Nathaniel Furman

Printer: TJ Books, Cornwall

Categories: Printed Publication / Identity / Publication

Industry: Cultural

Tags: Architecture / Publishing

A queer independent bookshop in Glasgow. An ice cream parlour in Cuba, where your order is coded. A cathedral in ruins in Nicaragua, occupied by the underground LGBTQIA+ community. Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories celebrates over 90 queer spaces.

With historic, contemporary and speculative examples from around the world, the book recognises LGBTQIA+ life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy of its own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives.

A framework was established to gather these 90+ hugely varied spaces – under the three sections of 'Domestic', 'Communal' and 'Public' – but one that would allow a looseness of approach to let each space be represented in a way that would communicate its voice as clearly as possible within this system. This was achieved through a balance of minimal type and a flexible image grid that allowed the message of the to be pushed to the forefront.

The book is clothbound with a shimmering holographic foil-blocked cover, where the type occupies the maximum space possible; a gentle but conceptually significant gesture given the subject matter of the book.