The Love Booth

The Love Booth is a community art project running from May to September, bringing people together to celebrate love, memory, and connection through the charm of an analogue photo booth.

 

Come to The Love Booth and explore 402 portraits celebrating love, memory, and connection. This special installation marks 100 years of the analogue photo booth and 200 years of passenger rail at Ramsgate Station. Created through an original analogue photo booth workshops, events, and community portrait sessions at the Queen’s Head pub, the project captured 1,339 portraits in Ramsgate and recorded sounds, stories, and comments to create an immersive soundscape for visitors to experience. Supported by Autofoto, Ramsgate Festival of Sound, Ramsgate Station, and the Royal Harbour’s Crane Shed.

 

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

It began at the Queen’s Head pub in Ramsgate, where visitors were invited to take portraits, share personal stories, and become part of a growing archive of everyday love. This year marks 100 years since the invention of the analogue photo booth, a space that has documented generations of relationships, especially those often left out of traditional archives such as the LGBTQIA+ community, couples whose relationships were not accepted by society, and people who could not afford other forms of photography.

 

Ramsgate Station kindly offered poster space to advertise the project and installation, as they celebrated 200 years of passenger rail. From our workshops and events, we also captured sounds, experiences, comments, and stories, which we have woven into the soundscape featured in this installation.

 

While in Ramsgate, the booth captured 1,339 portraits, and for this installation we received 402 photographs donated by participants. Every one of them is displayed here.

 

This project has been a joy and full of love. We thank our partners Auto Foto, the Ramsgate Festival of Sound, Ramsgate Station, everyone who has worked and volunteered and shared their ideas, the Queen’s Head for hosting us, and the Crane Shed, hired to us by the Royal Harbour, and all who stepped into the booth and made the project happen by celebrating it and having their picture taken.

 

​

We also have a documentary maker visiting today who is creating a film to celebrate 100 years of the analogue booth. He is particularly interested in our project and how this anniversary is being celebrated globally, so there may be some filming at the installation too.

 

On Sunday 14th September at 2.00 pm, The Love Booth will also be offering a Q&A session with Strange Tourist. Come and find out more!