THEY TALK WHEN YOU LEAVE: LAYERED
- Maisie Daniels
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
BY DANNI SPOONER - PHOTOGRAPHY + EDIT CHERRY AU
LAYERED was created in memory of Leia — a space built to hold trans and non-binary creativity with patience, care, and room to breathe. Some stories arrive fully formed; others need time. This piece lives in that in-between — made years ago, carried quietly, and shared only when the artist was ready.
Danni Spooner’s photographic series they talk when you leave is deeply layered, both in form and in feeling. Shot in 2022 — before top surgery and before starting full-dose hormone replacement therapy — the work sits with a version of self that is still becoming.
The series explores life as a working-class, queer, trans person growing up in the countryside — where family labour, survival, and silence often speak louder than words. “My dad used to kill fish and rabbits for dinner. My mum sold sandwiches out of a van.” These details sit like layers in the images themselves: rural, intimate, unromanticised. A band-aid pulled back slowly, revealing something both raw and necessary.
With the support of photographer and editor Cherry Au, and with the involvement of Danni’s mum, this series becomes not just documentation but reclamation. A way of saying: this happened, this shaped me, and I’m allowed to look back.
Danni shared that it took time to feel ready — and we’re grateful they trusted LAYERED as a soft space to finally let this work live. Here’s to being the village weirdo. Here’s to complexity. Here’s to telling the story when the moment feels right.
You can purchase one of the last remaining 4 copies HERE.
