The Glass Between Us
There is a particular shop window on a side street in Lisbon where the glass is old, slightly wavy, and prone to catching the ghost of the person standing on the other side. I often stop there, not to look at the wares, but to watch the way the city behind me folds into the face of a stranger walking toward me. We are so rarely just ourselves; we are always a layering of where we have been and what we are currently passing through. The city is a series of mirrors, a constant negotiation between the solid brick of the present and the fleeting, shimmering possibilities of what lies just beyond the pane. We think we are walking a straight line, but we are constantly being refracted, split into a dozen versions of ourselves by the windows we pass and the eyes that meet our own. If you could step through the silvered surface of your own reflection, would you recognize the person waiting on the other side?
Anastasia Markus has captured this beautiful, layered moment in her photograph titled The Other Side. It serves as a quiet reminder that we are all just reflections of the spaces we inhabit. Does this image make you feel like you are looking at a stranger or a mirror?
