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Explore Essays and memoir

Introduction

Rana Dasgupta

‘We cherish communion, exchange and intercourse, of course, but also distance, seclusion and defence. Talk of membranes, therefore, is never entirely literal.’

Newts

Anita Roy

‘Under a microscope, its skin looks lacy and netted, and it is this very porousness that makes these creatures so vulnerable.’

Laxmi

Anita Khemka & Rana Dasgupta

‘Anita’s documentation of Laxmi developed into what has become a lifelong friendship bound by photography.’

Rana Dasgupta introduces the photography of Anita Khemka.

Secondhand

Mónica de la Torre

‘Eerily animated, it’s as if the gloves persist in their attempt to express something that can’t be reduced to words, something untranslatable.’

Snap

Anouchka Grose

‘What a strange, terrible, exciting present – something you have to defile in order to appreciate.’

You Are Here, You Are Not a Ghost

Mark Doty

‘Does it make you a little ghostly yourself, when what’s gone is more present for you than what’s here?’

Border Documents

Arturo Soto

‘The twin cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez lie either side of the US–Mexico border.’

The Lake

Kapka Kassabova

‘The chalky mountain separates the lake from its higher, non-identical twin, but only overground. Underground, they are connected. Ohrid and Prespa: two lakes, one ecosystem.’

Between Light and Storm

Esther Woolfson

‘We’ve always been entwined in life and in death with other creatures, although often too much time has elapsed to be able to interpret with any certainty what some of these symbols and artefacts mean.’

All Species Have the Same Life

Emanuele Coccia

‘I have in me the vestiges of an endless series of living beings, all born of other living beings.’

Clarity

Ruchir Joshi

‘I was close to my own father, which many people are not.’

Ruchir Joshi remembers his son.

Words for Woman

Susana Moreira Marques

‘What we need, now, is: Mrs Dalloway in London, but as an immigrant’

How much faith can we place in coronavirus antibody tests?

Megan Price, Morgan Agnew & David Peters

Why is it so hard to roll out accurate antibody tests? Statisticians break down the challenges that come with testing for coronavirus immunity.

What History Tells Us About Epidemics

Sandra Hempel

‘From when we first began living together in settlements, bacteria and viruses were with us, replicating, mutating and jumping species with extraordinary agility.’