Halfway

A site where Travellers, Roma and others with no fixed abode are allowed to stay for three weeks. An abandoned village in Spain where five people are trying to build a new life. A forest on the edge of the city where a man is constructing his own open-air museum bit by bit. A village next to a busy port, condemned to demolition but still there. Jeroen Janssen finds such places and stays on. He draws them until he feels sufficiently immersed in the place to tell the stories of the people who live there through his drawings.

In ‘Halfway’, the unifying theme is home. What do you need to feel at home somewhere? When does a place become your home? Can you feel at home even if you have no permanent place to live? Armed with a sketchbook and a pencil case full of coloured pencils and felt-tip pens, Janssen takes readers to places and people that are often overlooked. He gives them a face and a voice, and shows the unexpected beauty of their surroundings. Janssen’s keen eye for detail is reflected in colourful, richly layered illustrations. Slow journalism at its best.