FAMILIAR STRANGERS by Brience

There are public places within which we spend hours of our week, without ever really being in them together. A lobby. A café. A gym. A corner of a neighbourhood.

We see the same faces there. Not friends — but not strangers either. Familiar unfamiliar people. We know they come to the same place we do. We know their rhythm, their hours, the shape of them across a room. We have never once asked their name.

There will always be that tall guy with green eyes and long hair.

That middle-aged woman who seems kind, sitting in the corner with her dog.

That young skateboarder who passes through STACKT Market around 5pm on Mondays.

We pass each other. We share the space. We may never speak.

And yet these are the people building that place. A lobby is not made by its architecture; it is made by whoever keeps showing up in it. Every one of these familiar strangers is quietly shaping the space, and every one of them is a community the rest of us never joined.

This work began as a personal observation of Brience co-founder, Arshia, after years spent in the same handful of locations as part of a weekly routine, recognizing the same faces every week, and never having the chance to ask a name, know someone better, or simply wish them luck.

‘Familiar Strangers’ is the chance to wish them luck. You still won’t learn their name. You still won’t speak. But you will leave something for them, and they will leave something for you — and at the end of it the room you both share will light up, because every single one of you took part.