The opening shot from Whispers Against My Neck shows a blonde, pony-tailed girl with a bright-orange butterfly perched on her finger, as people in the background fire off shotguns into the distance. It’s this image that photographer Marisa Chafetz says is “the perfect microcosm” of the photobook which brings together her work with photographer Morganne Boulden.

Within its 64 pages, the project captures the co-existence of danger and safety that comes with growing up. “I think coming of age in today’s world is really scary. There’s a lot of uncertainty and confusion, but we still have each other and can lean on our loved ones in times of need,” Boulden says.

Between shots of people sparking up cigarettes together, tussling in mudpits or tangled in bedsheets, this contrast is most obviously shown within two particular shots. In the first,  the subject rests on the edge of their bed, gripping a handgun. In the second, they reappear in the same spot, but with no gun and a friend curling their hair.  

“While beauty is generally at the forefront of the images, there is a subtle underbelly in the work that speaks to the present moment,” explains Chafetz. This duality continues throughout, with gloomy and low-lit shots that show the subjects engaged in various forms of physicality. It’s this contrast that Boulden feels “says a lot about the way we experience intimacy in today’s world – it’s a scary place but it’s beautiful with friends and family.”

With this in mind, the images capture their friends, lovers, and families over the years. Although it doesn't have a fixed location, there are some indications that the project was mostly shot in the depths of southern America – a photo of a girl wearing American boardshorts and flexing her bicep in one, or the derelict machinery that litters an underpass as a woman poses on the bonnet of a Cadillac in another. Regardless of location, the images have a timeless quality which speaks to something universal about the experience of growing up. 

After bringing together their work, the pair sifted through each other's archives, selecting the ones they responded to the most. “For me, the images are an expression of what I found beautiful, complicated, and worthy of contemplative looking during my 20s. If anything, the book reveals mine and Morganne’s commitment to living fully in the face of a lot of fear and hopelessness in this country,” Chafetz says. “The collaborative process was a worthwhile lesson in learning to release control. The final product has a life of its own, outside of any singular vision.” 

It’s in this way that both of the photographer’s works complement one another. “I think we both have a similar understanding of tension and intimacy,” Boulden says. These themes are drawn together by the project’s title, chosen by project curator Jesse Feinman, which he describes as “an attempt to speak to physical closeness [...] and what you learn about yourself (or each other) in those moments and experiences”. 

While this discovery is ongoing, nature is a throughline within the project – whether it’s tangled and knotted branches, the sunset falling through a silt fence or a snow-covered graveyard. “The landscape is the backdrop to all our human drama. It is the grandest possible context for any narrative, visual or otherwise,” Chafetz explains.

At times, it’s easy to mistake a stillness within the project for an idleness. But while some subjects are laid across unmade beds, many shots were taken in moments of action, the middle of gunfire or within the writhing pit of an indie-rock show. Even these images, Chafetz suggests, “render the world with a certain stillness,” which is one of the many qualities their work has in common. “We both like to expand beyond the boundaries of time, place and location and focus on moments that feel universal to the human experience.”

Whispers Against My Neck is published by Pomegranate Press and available to purchase here