NANCY A. SCHERL: DINING ALONE In the Company of Solitude

By The Shore, Homer Restaurant, NY, NY 1994 © Nancy A. Scherl

Private Tent, Julius’, New York, NY 2020 © Nancy A. Scherl

A Burger and Fries, Union Square Coffee Shop, 

New York, NY 1994 © Nancy A. Scherl

A Rose and Wine, Bondini’s, New York, NY 1989 © Nancy A. Scherl

 

Dining Alone: In the Company of Solitude draws attention to the disillusion of the stigma of eating alone…The work spans 35 years, ending in 2020, providing a new context for isolation brought on by the global health crisis. The images unfold in a Cinéma Vérité style so the camera is used to unveil truths in a documentary approach. The 65 plates are a window into trends of fashion and dining establishments over the three decades, reminding us that eating alone still involves being seen.”
– Laura Wzorek Pressley, CENTER, Santa Fe
 

Dining Alone: In the Company of Solitude (Daylight Books)

 

In the late 1980’s, Nancy Scherl began her Dining Alone: In the Company of Solitude series to explore the experience of solitude. As a teenager, she was influenced by Edward Hopper’s work, and then as a young woman, she lived alone in New York’s West Village for many years. There, in West Village restaurants and cafes, she found it comforting to dine alone but in the presence of others. An astute observer of people and with a photographer’s sensibility, Nancy realized how much she was also a subject in her own observations, bringing for her the reality of and questions about the experience of solitude into more vivid focus.

What do her images say about loneliness, social behaviour and our evolving attitudes in public spaces?  Read more in The Guardian, here

 

Dining Alone: In the Company of Solitude 

Photographs by Nancy A. Scherl
Foreword by Laura Pressley
Book Design by Bonnie Briant
Daylight Books, 2022

 

 

SPECIAL EDITION 

100 signed books and special edition prints are available to ORDER here.

CHARITABLE DONATION
Nancy Scherl will donate 50% of all the proceeds for the signed books/prints to CaringMatters and Jasa,