House Is The place the Sofa Is: Photographs by Natcha Wongchanglaw

Whereas the lodging fluctuate tremendously from sofa to sofa, one factor is at all times sure: there sometimes isn’t a photograph of the place you’ll be sleeping. As a substitute, the descriptions written by hosts normally give a way of what to anticipate—whether or not it’s a non-public room, a sofa, or typically even sharing a mattress with the host. This lack of certainty makes every sofa keep really feel like its personal distinctive expertise, formed by the host and the house they provide.

Every picture within the collection showcases a distinct host—somebody from a far-off nation with a singular story, job, and life-style. The vary is placing: a free-spirited lady in Mexico who works at Reserving.com and events each evening, a authorities speechwriter from Canada, and a nudist in Brooklyn. Natcha’s lens captures not simply the hosts however the refined dynamics that play out when dwelling below another person’s roof—typically cozy, typically awkward, however at all times deeply private.

The mission started throughout Natcha’s time in artwork faculty in New York, the place she turned to Couchsurfing as a technique to ease the loneliness of beginning recent in a brand new metropolis. For her, it was greater than only a technique to discover a mattress for the evening—it was a possibility to attach, study, and develop. The collection is a portrait of those connections—some fleeting, others enduring—and a mirrored image on how, in the long run, we’re all simply vacationers searching for a spot to name dwelling.