These are vintage photos of my family. My parents were odd soul mates--transformed my the alchemy of their shared love. With stolen plane tickets on his lap, my father closed his eyes and traced his finger over a topographical map. Indonesia. The word sprawled. He landed his destiny there when he met my mother. Glances, gestures, and subtext had to suffice; they didn’t speak the same language. Thus I was born in Indonesia to odd soul mates: a Javanese countess and palace dancer and a quixotic, Jewish, New Yorker, poet/activist dad--by a random poke at the map. No wonder I have such wanderlust..
Meanwhile, as for my own soul mate, we met four years ago, on a balmy summer night just weeks before my father died--at a local midtown Manhattan bar right around the corner from my home and his work. Sometimes you have to travel across the world to meet "the one," other times, they're right there on that street you pass by every day..
Meanwhile, as for my own soul mate, we met four years ago, on a balmy summer night just weeks before my father died--at a local midtown Manhattan bar right around the corner from my home and his work. Sometimes you have to travel across the world to meet "the one," other times, they're right there on that street you pass by every day..
Photographs © Naomi Melati Bishop. All rights reserved
