North London had been waiting for this moment since the 2003/04 season. The season of the Invincibles. A team suspended between myth and memory: legendary for the emotions it generated, yet haunted by the club’s repeated inability to return to the summit of English football in the years that followed. What came next felt endless, punctuated only by five FA Cups and a handful of domestic trophies. But after more than two decades, Arsenal finally embraced the title once again as champions of England. They celebrated on the pitch and at the Emirates Stadium after the season’s final victory over Crystal Palace. They kept celebrating even after the disappointment of a Champions League final defeat, transforming the streets of North London into a manifesto of collective joy, carried by thousands of smiling faces and bodies moving as one.

Memories are created, but they are also constantly renewed. Newly crowned legends stand alongside cult heroes. The emotions surrounding another defining chapter in the story of a historic club and a community that has never stopped orbiting around its colours.

“We’ll never be beyond that stage,” says a young Colin Firth in Fever Pitch, the film — and before that, Nick Hornby’s novel — that remains one of football fandom’s most enduring cultural touchstones, fittingly set in the shadow of Highbury. It is a sentiment that perfectly captures the spirit behind Return to Memory, the project created by Luke & Nik. A Manchester United supporter and a Gunner through and through. Together, they found in Arsenal’s title-winning campaign the ideal subject through which to connect what once was with what is. A way of rediscovering childhood memories, emotional traces and personal obsessions, placing them in dialogue with the euphoria of the present through collage, post-production techniques and vibrant compositional abstractions. The result is a series of works that feel deeply personal and yet universally familiar. 

After all, this is the enduring magic of the Beautiful Game: its ability to shape entire lives, imaginaries and even artistic practices, especially in moments as significant as the triumph of a league title. As Luke & Nik demonstrate, football creates points of connection capable of transcending almost any barrier, even the most definitive one of all: allegiance itself. And perhaps that is the most valuable message contained within their creative process, their visual language and the story they have chosen to tell.

Nik, how did Arsenal become such an important part of your life, and what was it like working on this project alongside a Manchester United fan like Luke?

Nik: “Arsenal has been part of my life since childhood, just like football. The fact that I’m an Arsenal fan and Luke is a Man U fan makes this project quite an interesting dynamic. As a duo we have a shared identity, but we also have our individual identities. Obviously I was the one saying, “I think Arsenal are going to win the league and I want to make something about it.” I was trying to convince Luke from the art side of things. I grew up with two brothers. My oldest brother supports Liverpool, my youngest supports Chelsea and I ended up supporting Arsenal. Sometimes there isn’t much logic behind the club you choose: you just end up choosing someone different. I used to go to Highbury with a Scouts group a couple of times a year. We’d visit the academy, meet players, play football ourselves and then watch a game. It was such a beautiful introduction to a football club. And it was the period when Arsène Wenger came in. That felt huge. The philosophy, the change in football, the introduction of international players… It was an exciting time to be an Arsenal fan. Thierry Henry was my idol. I had posters everywhere. I even found a response to a letter I’d written to Arsenal when I was a kid. It’s hard to remember exactly how you felt all those years ago, but finding things like that reminds you how much it meant.”

Luke, what did and do Arsenal represent in your eyes as a Manchester United fan?

Luke: “When I was a kid, Arsenal were very much Manchester United’s rivals. I feel really lucky to have grown up during that period because it was such an exciting time. Even today, when people talk about English football, that rivalry still gets referenced: Vieira and Roy Keane in the tunnel, Wenger and Ferguson, all of it… It’s become romanticised now as a symbol of what English football used to be. What Nik touched on is really important: Arsène Wenger played a huge role in modernising English football. The professionalism, the international scouting, the way clubs operated: he had a massive impact on all of that. As much as it pains me to say it, Arsenal are a hugely important football club because of that. Manchester United have had a difficult 15 years. Arsenal went through a transition too, but they’ve come out the other side in a very different place. Football is cyclical. Things change very quickly. What I find interesting is that rivalries don’t feel quite the same anymore. Guardiola and Klopp had enormous respect for one another. Ferguson and Wenger didn’t. That tension filtered down to the players. It’s difficult to imagine football returning to that place because image and branding are such a big part of the game now.”

What role have football played in your life beyond supporting a club?

Nik: “Football itself has always been a cornerstone of my life. I’ve never been particularly good, but I’ve always played: school teams, local teams, in the park, wherever I could… When I first moved to London, finding people to play football with was one of the things that unlocked the city for me.”

Luke: “I think, ultimately, football is the most powerful touchstone there is. You can instantly connect with someone because you share that interest. There’s already so much enthusiasm there and it’s so easy to start a conversation because of that shared love of football. It started really early for me. My most vivid memories are probably Euro ‘96. It was hosted in England, and it became something much bigger than sport. The whole country knew about it. You’d see it in shops, on the streets, everywhere. I think that was my first introduction to the power of sport and what it can do culturally. I live in Denmark now and I’ve lived in different places over the years. Similar to what Nik was saying about moving to London, football is one of the best ways to meet people and get to know people. It’s such a unique thing.”

Football clearly plays a huge role in your lives. How has the game’s visual culture shaped your creative practice, and what professional experiences have allowed you to engage with football through your work? 

Nik: “This project has actually been a real insight into that. We’ve always had this passion for football and, when you first get into the industry, you have those dreams of photographing footballers and being involved in that world. Our first experience of that actually came through the women’s game. We photographed Leah Williamson just before the 2019 World Cup. At the time she was this incredibly exciting young player at Arsenal who had just been selected for England. Since then she’s gone on to captain club and country and win everything. That was a really special experience because I think sometimes, when you’ve idolised people too much, meeting them can be slightly disappointing. Leah was the complete opposite. That project led to other opportunities within women’s football and that side of the game has been really important for us. What’s interesting about Arsenal winning the league after such a long time is that it completely rekindled all these memories of how I felt when we last won it. I suddenly remembered that I used to make scrapbooks. Anything related to Arsenal, I just don’t throw away. I physically can’t put Arsenal things in the bin. So I started looking for these old books and found them. They were really basic. This was twenty years ago. Our collage work has evolved so much since then. But I would cut newspaper articles out, stick them into a book and then write down the score and the goalscorers by hand. Looking back, I think those were my earliest experiences of interacting with media in a different way. This project made us reflect on football culture when we were young. Sticker collections, posters, football magazines… All those things we were engaging with as kids have clearly influenced where we’ve ended up creatively.”

Luke: “I think that’s something you recognise more as you get older. Not just creatively, but in life generally. You realise that everything influences you over time. The cartoons you watched, the adverts you saw, the football culture you experienced: all those small things have an effect. Some of it is conscious and some of it is subconscious, but somehow it all works its way into your approach to making things. What’s exciting is that, as you get older, you become better at recognising those influences and articulating them.”

One of the ideas at the heart of the Arsenal-inspired project is turning nostalgia into something tangible. How did you approach that process together?

Luke: “It was really exciting because football is already such a big part of our friendship. Usually, at the start of every week, our first call inevitably turns into a conversation about football and whatever happened over the weekend. It’s always been one of the cornerstones of our friendship. As the season went on, I could sense Nik’s excitement growing. Eventually he shared this idea he’d been carrying around in the back of his mind. The way our practice works is that one of us often has an idea and the other person’s job is to help realise it. Even though I’m a Manchester United fan, I could see the enthusiasm behind it. When somebody is genuinely excited about an idea, that’s usually the core of something worth pursuing. So we started. Rather than trying to explain everything, Nik just began making things. There were some very early explorations: black-and-white compositions and different visual directions. I think he shared them with me on a Friday. I could immediately see something there, but I needed time to process it and think about what was working. Then on Monday he messaged me saying he was going to continue developing it. One thing that stood out to me was the sticker culture element. That felt like something that had left a lasting impression on me growing up. Nik’s early explorations felt closer to documentary photography: players in motion, moments on the pitch… My instinct was to explore something different. That became the first real turning point in the project. Once we found that direction, everything started moving very quickly.”

Nik: “What Luke is describing is one of the most interesting parts of working together. You can have an idea and, in a very crude way, it almost feels like putting something into a chatbot and seeing what comes back. Except this is a much more refined version of that process. I had an idea. I sent it to Luke. Sometimes he could easily come back and say, “I don’t think this is right” or “I don’t think this is worth pursuing.” Instead, there was enough there for him to get excited and start asking how he could develop it. That’s one of the biggest strengths of working as a duo. Over the weekend, the idea keeps evolving in somebody else’s head. Then they come back with something that pushes it in a completely different direction. If I’d carried on by myself, I probably would have stayed on that black-and-white, documentary route. Instead, the project took a fork in the road that only existed because there were two of us involved. And I’m really glad it did.”

Your creative partnership has been going for years. Does it ever feel similar to being part of a football team?

Nik: “Definitely. I’ve never really thought about it through a sporting lens before, but there is absolutely a team spirit to it. You endure things together and you celebrate things together. We often describe our partnership as a relationship because that’s really what it is. It’s another important relationship in our lives. What’s interesting is that every creative duo seems to work differently. Lots of people ask us how our setup works and then, when we hear about other duos, they’re often completely different. In our case, we can both do everything. We can both take the creative lead, take photographs, edit images, develop ideas. We have the same roles, but we constantly switch between them. That keeps things interesting and it also means we’re constantly developing together. One person doesn’t become the specialist in one thing while the other becomes the specialist in something else. We’re growing at the same pace.”

Is it like Total Football?

Nik: “Exactly.”

Luke: “We can play every position. To continue the football analogy, I still play every week, not at a particularly high level, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I actually enjoy most about football. For me, it’s creating something with other people. You pass the ball to somebody, they do something with it and then maybe a goal happens. That’s what it’s all about. I enjoy individual sports too, but it’s not the same feeling. There’s something unique about being part of a team. I remember that during this project there was a moment where I said to Nik: “I love this. This is exactly what it’s all about.” I would never have created this by myself and Nik wouldn’t have created it in exactly the same way either. That’s the essence of collaboration. You’re able to make something that wouldn’t exist otherwise. And when you’re right in the middle of that process, it’s an amazing feeling.”

While revisiting Arsenal’s history, were there any forgotten players, moments or details that suddenly came back to you?

Nik: “I love that question because success always makes you look back at the journey. When a club wins something significant, you start thinking about all the people who contributed along the way: even the ones who weren’t actually there when the trophy was won. I went to the title celebrations at the Emirates and it was one of the most incredible atmospheres I’ve ever experienced. Everyone was there for the same reason. There was this feeling of joy and celebration everywhere. As you walked through the crowd, different chants would break out every few metres. One of the loudest was for Santi Cazorla. And I found that really moving. He wasn’t part of a title-winning Arsenal side. We won FA Cups during his time, but not the league. Yet he’s become this genuine cult hero. That felt incredibly nostalgic. At the same time, I was digging through all my old Arsenal memorabilia and I found lots of old shirts. It’s funny because, as you get older, you stop putting names on the back of shirts. When you’re young, it feels natural because those players are your heroes. Looking through those shirts was like opening a time capsule. There was Henry. Ashley Cole. Cesc Fàbregas. Samir Nasri. I realised I had terrible luck because almost every player whose name I put on a shirt eventually left the club. At least I never got Van Persie. I had Giroud instead, which feels like a much safer choice now. There’s another memory that came back to me as well. When I first moved to London, I used to play football at Westway in west London. It was this incredible football hub where all kinds of people would show up. Sometimes Ian Wright would be there. You’d spot Robert Pirès on another pitch. It wasn’t a big event. It was actually very low-key because there were so many games happening at once. You’d also get academy players turning up after training sessions because they just wanted another game. Looking back, it feels surreal that these players were sharing the same space. You’d see them and think: “That’s Ian Wright. That’s Robert Pirès.” Those memories definitely resurfaced during this project”

Luke: “It’s interesting because we spent a lot of time looking at the current Arsenal squad as well. Initially, we thought about focusing on specific players. But the more we discussed it, the more we realised that wasn’t really what the project was about. Football is a team sport. You can’t achieve anything without the whole squad. So it became important to represent everyone. What’s been interesting since the celebrations is seeing who supporters are gravitating towards. Some players become cult heroes almost unexpectedly. You start wondering how we’ll look back on this group in ten years’ time. Which players will become legends? Which players will people remember most fondly? The fascinating thing is that you never really know in the moment. Perspective changes so quickly in football. That’s something I found myself thinking about a lot while we were making the work.”

Speaking of footballers, what kind of players capture your imagination?

Nik: “In the Premier League we had Gianfranco Zola, who was that kind of player. This little magic box who seemed capable of doing things nobody else could see. I love watching clips of players like that, especially from the 1990s. Football was probably more physical and aggressive back then, yet those players still look as if they could play in the modern game. I think people are starting to miss that kind of footballer. The game has become more structured. Set-pieces are more important than ever. Everything feels more organised. There’s this longing for the return of the classic 10. That said, this season has changed the way I watch football a little bit. I’ve spent so much time watching Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal that I’ve learned to appreciate different things. I never thought I’d say that watching a centre-back could be one of the most enjoyable things in football, but that’s genuinely how I’ve felt. Take Riccardo Calafiori. I don’t think we’ve even seen the best version of him yet because injuries have interrupted his season. But he’s one of those players who can defend brilliantly and then suddenly appear in a striker’s position. He made a scorpion-style block late in the season that was genuinely beautiful. Then, five minutes later, he’d be playing as if he were a forward. You watch him and think: “What position is he actually playing?” He’s calm on the ball, he can defend and he seems comfortable everywhere. I love players like that.”

Luke: “For me, that’s changed a lot over time. When I was younger, I remember looking at Djibril Cissé and thinking he was the coolest person I’d ever seen. He had so much character and personality. What’s funny is that he was actually very different from me. I’m not a particularly loud person. I’m quite reserved. Maybe that’s why I found him so fascinating. Then there was Steven Gerrard. I absolutely loved watching Gerrard. He felt like somebody who could do everything. He could play anywhere on the pitch and still be the best player on it. I’ve been rewatching some of the documentaries about Liverpool’s Champions League win and seeing him again reminded me how extraordinary he was. I think everyone has memories of watching football as a kid and seeing a player do something that completely takes your breath away. Then you spend the rest of the evening trying to recreate it yourself. I definitely had that with Gerrard. I definitely had that with Cissé. Usually I just ended up falling over. But that’s part of the magic. Now, I think I admire different qualities. I probably gravitate more towards players who quietly get on with the game. People who aren’t necessarily trying to make themselves the centre of attention. I always liked Andrés Iniesta for that reason. He could do extraordinary things with the ball, but it never felt like it was about him. He seemed quite reserved and quite humble. As I’ve got older, I’ve probably found myself appreciating those kinds of players more.”

Your project arrives at a moment when football feels increasingly commercialised. What role can art play in contemporary football?

Nik: “That’s a really interesting question because football contains both incredible positives and obvious contradictions. One thing I’ve realised over the years is that football supporters are often reduced to stereotypes. But when you actually spend time around football, you realise how diverse it is. I keep thinking about the Arsenal title celebrations. It felt like a festival. There were people of every age, every background, men, women… Everyone together for the same reason. It was overwhelmingly positive. Standing there, I felt: “This is my club. This represents values that I believe in.” That’s one of the reasons we make work the way we do. We’re not trying to commentate on everything that’s happening in the world. We’re trying to create something people can engage with emotionally. The intersection between football culture and art feels stronger than ever right now, and I think that’s a good thing. It brings more people into the game. It makes football more accessible. And it gives people new ways of connecting with it. We’re certainly not pioneers in that respect. There are lots of amazing people making work in this space. But we’re excited to contribute to that conversation.”

Luke: “One of the most positive changes in football is that clubs have become much more aware of the diversity of the people who engage with them. Arsenal are actually a very good example of that. They’re very aware of the different communities that exist around the club. They’re willing to support artists, support fan groups and give different people a platform to tell their stories. That’s one of the things art does really well. It gives individuals a way to express their own perspective. Nik and I can only talk about football through our own experiences. Other people will tell completely different stories. The more clubs embrace that, the richer football culture becomes. And ultimately, I think that creates more understanding as well. That’s probably one of the best things football can do.”