Journey Inside
Journey Inside is a book that places the art of Elly Strik in an unexpected context: space. Together with Iebe Torfs, I compared the inner journey Strik takes in her work with the outer journey of astronauts. Two movements that seem far apart at first, yet unexpectedly intersect along the way.
In her work, Strik is always searching for what lies beneath the surface. Astronauts experience something similar when they see the Earth as a whole from a distance: the overview effect. Both perspectives open up new ways of seeing and feeling—towards ourselves and existence.
In the book, we merge images of Strik’s work with cosmic photography. By placing them next to and behind each other, a play between inside and outside, intimacy and infinity emerges—as if you were looking through a telescope and a magnifying glass at the same time.
The design reinforces this idea: we start on Earth and travel further and further into the universe. Through layout choices—from zoomed-in details to increasingly zoomed-out text—the scale expands, and we begin to feel smaller as humans. Ultimately, the journey ends in infinite space, where art and cosmos meet.
