Issue 1, August 2021
The pieces in this issue were created over the course of late 2020 and early 2021. The theme was: please, do anything you want (i.e. no theme). So, driven by the whims of our genius contributers, this free-for-all first issue of Layabout covers chess, pedophiles, soap, beetles, concrete, Skinny Bitch, texture, perception and compassion. Enjoy!
> Poetry Unity Ecstasy Love
Multimedia artist Aubrielle Hvolboll’s video invites us to grip tightly onto Dr. Bronner’s soft, clean hand and take a step into the feverish void of his soap-making empire.
See more work at her website.
> The Queen’s Gambit: chess as an ideological battleground
In this article, Jack Wareham takes a critical look at Netflix’s hit show, The Queen’s Gambit, and its pop-feminist and anti-Soviet mythmaking.
Read Jack’s work for The Daily Californian and CounterPunch.
> En abyme (In an abyss)
Claire Hannon’s sequence of poetry and prose fragments explores the slippery nature of love, memory and truth(s).
> Architecture Review: The Elrod House
In this piece of short fiction, Evelyn Everlane reflects on her time working for a faux-Italian porn producer with a prediliction for concrete.
> che la mia ferita sia mortale (may all my wounds be fatal) and jazz for your soul
Multidisciplinary artist Hee Joon Youn created two pieces for the exhibition ‘these are a few of my favourite things’, shown Trocadero Art Space in February 2021.
See more work at her website.
> Skin
Photographer and director Caitlin Wong plays with bodies to create a sea of sumptuous textures, begging you to reach out and touch.
> Pedophile Hauntology
Dylan Burgoon’s article weds philosophy and online culture to analyse the chilling spectre of the celebrity pedophile. 
Read Dylan’s work for The LA Review of Books and CounterPunch.
> Boxes and Lines
Ariel Hoage’s arresting poetry meditates on family, bodies and ageing.