Many of us are not very comfortable with the idea of dining alone, afraid of being judged as lonely people. But what is the thin line distinguishing loneliness from solitariness? Between 2020 and 2021, when human company and touch were feared due to the pandemic, we were isolated and prevented by various protocols from going to spaces that involved crowds, including dining in our favourite restaurants.
New York photographer Nancy A Scherl went around shooting solo diners in all kinds of dining spaces during the pandemic - from fancy eateries to diners, burger joints and makeshift tents. Her soon to be released book Dining Solo: In the Company of Solitude records these solitary moments of solo diners, throwing a light on social behaviour and attitudes in public spaces.
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Flipping through the book, you get a very Edward Hopper's Nighthawks kinda feel - looking at the images of individuals alone in impersonal spaces.
Scherl has been recording, through photographs, solo diners for around 35 years - until the COVID-19 pandemic happened. That's when her work seemed to take on a deeper meaning as the whole world suddenly became isolated in bubbles. Her work leads us to ask important questions about solitariness and human behaviour. It is not just the facets revealed during pandemic-induced solitariness, but also the slowly emerging trend of finding peace within ourselves. The different kinds of eateries in her book are also powerful depictions of eras, and times of our lives.
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Her pictures capture the emotions of women, and old men dining alone, perhaps to feel empowered or to capture serenity. As Musee magazine says in a review, “Ending with her own romanticizing of dining alone as a truly antiauthoritarian experience, Nancy Scherl reminds us that eating alone is the time when we intensely explore our deepest thoughts and emotions, our psyche, the parts of ourselves that make us the most unique—the most interesting.”
More about the book and Scherl's work here.
The book is available on Amazon.
