Footnote — Issue 2: The Merchant of Colours

The second issue of Footnote, a twice-yearly journal in which a single commissioned text is answered by artists, photographers and writers.

The text this time is The Merchant of Colours, a fable Ben Okri wrote for the magazine, about a world without colour and the travelling merchant who gives it back. Each contribution picks up a particular passage, much as a footnote hangs from a line, and together they look at colour through perception, memory and the practice of making art, in essays, fiction, poetry, photographs and interviews.

Contributors include Mattia Balsamini, RZ Baschir, Andrew Berardini, Leon Chew, Nishant Choksi, Luke Evans, Professor Anya Hurlbert, Louis Mason, Max Miechowski, Eva Helene Pade, Paul Rousteau, Maximilian Virgili and Nadia de Vries. The issue came out with two covers, one by Luke Evans and one by Maximilian Virgili.

Footnote was founded by Alex Hunting, its editor-in-chief and creative director, and George Upton, its editor. Hunting's studio, based in Denmark, leads its design and production. Issue 2 received a Wooden Pencil at the 2026 D&AD Awards.

Alex Hunting Studio, 2026. 144 pages, softcover, 27 x 34 cm. In English.