We are categorized (as in, assigned to a race, assigned to a gender) based on how we are seen. The Western eye sees melanin and calls it Black, sees a soft curve and labels it Woman.
But how we are seen is not necessarily the same as how we look. Which is to say – the Western eye warps. Black becomes criminal, vanished, shadow. Woman becomes small, subservient, object. To be seen, in this world, as a black, gender marginalized person, is to be a fun-house mirror reflection. A warp, a mirage, an optical illusion.
And yet – we have the ability to look, too.
So - what does it mean to see, beyond the Western eye? What can be seen, if we are the ones doing the looking? And – how can we see, without looking? How can we sight the world, beyond the simple act of viewing it with our eyes? What does it mean, to scry, to uncover? How can we move beyond gaze, into something deeper? What would the world look like if we saw with our own two eyes – and, with our ears, and the tips of our fingers, and the bottoms of our tongues?
These are the questions that lead us into the second issue of GLINT. We bring you stories of rejecting the eyes of the world and opening new eyes instead, images of pure sight. Stories that allow us to look tenderly at ourselves and, by extension, each other. These are the stories that lead us down new paths, into new worlds – worlds that retain their logic even in pitch black.
- adesuwa + esther
