We are nearby.
Exploring the dynamics of long-distance relationships
Long distance relationships are unique; two people in different places maintaining their love and affection for each other without regular meetups. With the internet, partners in different parts of the world feel closer than ever, so much so that the in-person meeting is sometimes no longer a prerequisite for beginning a relationship with someone.
Despite this, there are still many challenges people in long-distance relationships face. With today’s immigration climate, borders can complicate relationships more than ever and the inability to see one’s significant other may be because of the difficulty of getting a visa.
About The Project
nearby is a project that seeks to explore long distance relationships as a unique phenomenon and present our findings in two ways: a publication of stories that chronicles the experience of real long-distance couples and a physical product that aims to make long distance relationships suck less.
Each participant will be featured in the magazine and will receive the physical product at the end of the project. We will travel to interview each participant and develop a product that helps each one deal with being apart better.
About Us
Ashley Okwuosa is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, currently working as an education reporter at The Teacher Project. At Columbia, she was an Africa Pulitzer Fellow and her work focused on long-form narratives and stories about immigration. Her work has appeared on WNYC, Quartz, OkayAfrica, aKoma, Ebony.com, Africa Is A Country, Latterly and OZY.com.
Chuma Asuzu is a designer and engineer. He loves to develop product concepts and is adept at early stage prototyping with users. In his day job, he works as a design researcher for the Canadian Public Service. In his spare time, he writes a newsletter about hardware product development in Africa and volunteers at Hardware Lagos.
Call for People
At this time, we do not know what that final product will be, which is why we need your help. The research for the magazine and the creation of the product will happen simultaneously.
As we learn about the couples and their interesting stories, we want to explore (and ideate on) products that could make these relationships even stronger. Are you in a long distance relationship? Do you want to share your story with us? Fill out this form (also embedded below) and we will reach out ASAP.
If you have thoughts, comments and/or questions, email us at thenearbyproject@gmail.com.
