‘The Hollow of the Hand’ book by PJ Harvey & Seamus Murphy

This October sees the release of a unique, collaborative book ‘The Hollow of the Hand’ featuring a poignant collection of poetry from PJ Harvey alongside images from award-winning photographer and film-maker Seamus Murphy.

Critically acclaimed English singer and songwriter PJ Harvey set out on a series of journeys to war-torn destinations with Seamus Murphy including Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington DC between 2011 and 2014. The book is a captivating result of the pair’s travels forged with images from over two decades of Murphy’s photographic work.

PJ Harvey comments, ‘Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with. My friend Seamus Murphy and I agreed to grow a project together – I would collect words, he would collect pictures, following our instincts on where we should go.’

Seamus Murphy adds: ‘Polly is a writer who loves images and I am a photographer who loves words. I made some films for her last album Let England Shake, and an adventure began. Our collaboration continues in this book. It is a look at home and the world.’

The book is a captivating blend of artistic voices and will be published internationally in a large format hardback edition with highest quality photographic reproductions, as well as a reader’s paperback version. A limited number of boxed, signed special edition black and white digital fibre based prints produced by Metro will be also available alongside an iBook.

The Hollow of the Hand is published by Bloomsbury on 8th October 2015
For information about how to purchase Reviews of the recent musical accompaniment to the book which took place at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this month can be read here:

The Guardian review
The Times review

Image ©  Seamus Murphy