Tranquility in the Midst
Photography by Bowen Fernie
An island is literally a patch of dry land in the middle of deep waters. Taking this literal interpretation a bit further and moving into the fall of a tumultuous year, we imagine this tranquil characterization as an idea – that our home is a place of warmth, security, and comfort, an arid oasis in the midst of the deep ocean of life. With camera in hand, photographer Bowen Fernie visited her family’s home on Martha’s Vineyard, and reimagined Kindred Black on her patch of “dry land” for our series, The Looking Glass.
At the start of the 20th century, the American sociologist Thomas H. Cooley developed the concept of “the looking glass self." Cooley theorized that it is through our human interactions and the ways in which we perceive others to view us, that we build our senses of self. Our journal series, The Looking Glass, imagines Kindred Black through the lens of inspiring creatives and aesthetes and helps us to create our community from these unique perspectives.