OBX zine
by Lillian Smith and Lauren McDowell
“Name of the zine tbd idk lol” is a collaborative project combining the writings of Lilli Smith and the photography of Lauren McDowell.
Mutually enthralled by the landscape of memory, folklore, and ecological precariousness surrounding the state’s barrier island chain called the Outer Banks, which was a site of pilgrimage each summer for cousins Lauren and Lilli and their extended family, and has been the generational homeland for at least 7 generations of her family history.
Photography by Lauren McDowell, shot from 2019-2022
“But for now, I keep to my side of the white line. The tightrope thin space they leave for pedestrians and call it safe. You’ll make it home or you won’t. Just like my mother says, it’ll work out or it won’t, every time I come to her with a problem. She shouldn’t have given that refrain to me because now I wield it like a weapon. Or a shield, I feel too comfortable walking beside this highway for how unsafe logically I know it is. But it’ll work out or it won’t.”
So Much Tenderness by Lillian Smith, written in 2022
published in The Laughing Medusa 2022 Magazine
About Lillian:
Lillian Smith is a writer and fiber artist originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. She moved to Boston in 2019 to pursue a degree in English from Boston College. During her time at Boston College she developed her passions for both writing and fiber arts inside and outside of the classroom. Lillian joined the editorial council of the literary magazine for female and nonbinary authors and artists The Laughing Medusa. She has held positions both as web editor and editor in chief her junior and senior year respectively. Additionally, she has worked in the costume shop at Boston College, helping to make a wide variety of costumes for the university’s theater department, everything from Victorian era men’s suits to contemporary dance costumes. View her portfolio site here.
About Lauren:
Lauren McDowell (b. 1997, NC) is a photographer and multimedia artist (performance, video, drawing, collage, zines, & sculpture) whose work explores ecological relationships within the anthropocene, particularly the invisibility and hyper-visibility of the natural world. (Art CV) She is also an actor and theatre artist whose work in performance and playwriting explores both human and ecological relationships. (Theatre CV) Lauren received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California in 2019, where she studied Narrative, Fine Art, and Classics. She is a 7th generation North Carolinian and is currently based in Charlotte, NC. View her portfolio site here.