About
Text + Pix is a Durham collective of artists and makers experimenting with words and images across mediums.
Once a month during the academic year we meet in the library at the Center for Documentary Studies. One or two members share work in progress: a poem on its way to becoming a photograph, a novel mined from a family archive, a picture described by someone who didn't take it. Then the room talks it through. We bring our questions about textures and pixels, sound and sense. There are snacks.
Much of the work has a documentary bent. It starts from real places, archives and histories, from a Durham tobacco warehouse to a family's old negatives to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, and asks what words and pictures can each say about them that the other can't.
How it started
In the fall of 2024, two newcomers to Duke, Lauren Neefe and Frances Leviston, sat down over doughnuts with two Durham veterans, Mesha Maren and Tom Rankin. Among other things, they lamented how rarely the people on Duke's East and West Campuses who care about words and images end up in the same room. So they set a date in the CDS Library and invited everyone. The first gathering was in December 2024. People came, came back, and brought friends.
Who comes
Poets, novelists, photographers, filmmakers, printmakers, designers, curators, editors and scholars, from Duke and from across the Triangle. You don't need a Duke affiliation, and you don't need to present to come. Curiosity is enough.
What we make
Talking leads to making. In Fall 2025 we published our first zine, with fiction, poetry, memoir and photographs by members. It also introduced ALT text, an ongoing series in which two photographers each write a close description of the other's picture, and the images and texts appear side by side. Other projects run between gatherings: joint sessions with colleagues in Manchester, field trips, and a summer get-together.
Present your work
We're always looking for presenters, especially pairs whose work talks to each other. If you have a project where words and images meet, finished or not, write to us at hello@textpix.org with a few lines about it.
Organizers
The 2026–27 gatherings are organized by Mort O'Sullivan, Dennis Szerszen and Laura Williams. Text + Pix is also listed by the Duke English Department.