Elsewhere In Repose: Tucked Away In Martha's Vineyard, A Black Woman's Safe Space

“It feels like the first time I’ve slept all year — a true nervous system reset.”

Naima Green

By Naima Green · Updated November 4, 2020

Martha’s Vineyard is a place I share with people I love. For many, it’s a Black utopia, a place of ease and luxury. I grew up coming to the island with my Aunt Judith and family over 20 years ago. On my first trip here in middle school, I remember sitting in her backseat with my little cousins driving to an unknown island that has changed my life in so many ways since then. Back then, it was a new freedom that I didn’t experience in New York. Now, returning to Martha’s Vineyard this fall amidst a pandemic, after spending seven months in a Brooklyn one-bedroom apartment, it feels like the first time I’ve slept all year—a true nervous system reset. This trip began as an opportunity to be elsewhere with someone I love, to get out of the city, to be at the beach—a place that calls to me more than any other – and to rest and work with a new view.

It has been all of that and more. My girlfriend Sable and I visited island staples like Back Door Donuts and enjoyed a new restaurant, Seaweed’s, but more than that, we’ve chased the island terrain from the cliffs of Aquinnah to the tall grass in East Chop.

While visiting, I spoke with both Sable (who was experiencing the island for the first time) and Aunt Judith about their own discoveries along their personal self-care journeys.

Naima Green is an artist and educator based in New York. Green was one of the first creators to have the opportunity to shoot with the new iPhone 12 Pro where she got to explore shooting the beauty of the island’s oceanfront sunsets with the low-light capture, and the improved smart HDR function for capturing lifelike images of their meals. Each of these images was shot exclusively on the new iPhone.

State Beach

Sunset at State Beach which runs between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. “”I would say self-love and self-care have arrived as I’ve gotten older; they have come into focus more so than evolved. I feel like I’m just learning these things in my 30s. I’ve always had a sense of self-love, but previously that was only within the bounds or containers of a current moment, and oftentimes the limits of those containers were tight. I’m also a person who caretakes. Allowing and prioritizing both giving myself that same level of care and allowing others to care for me has been huge; the latter being a daily exercise. ” — Sable

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Aunt Judith

“Take time for yourself to be with yourself to decompress and relax,” Aunt Judith shared. “My views [on self care] have not changed as I have gotten older, but I am more deliberate about protecting my ‘me-time’.”

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Sable at Waban Park

“Our time here has been beautiful and meditative. Each beach here is a different world with different landscapes and terrains. I was also lovingly reminded to ground! To take my shoes off and let my feet feel the earth by walking barefoot in an arboretum and running my fingers on the underside of leaves. It was transcendent. Those are the moments, the sensorial states I’m always after.” – Sable

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Sable at Waban Park II

“I spend so much more time in nature and/or green spaces these days than I have ever prioritized before in my life and that is a blessing.” — Sable

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Edgartown

“Care requires attention and specificity. It is an acknowledgment of all of the identities that I occupy at a given moment. As a black, queer, female identifying person – who can also cycle through various modes of expression in a single day – and as someone who is constantly interpellated differently/misgendered daily (more so from a place of simplicity than complexity), modulating levels of projection is sometimes a constant throughout my day. What it means for me to restore and care for myself requires – what my therapist likes to call – embodied tenderness.” — Sable

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Chappy Ferry

Chappy Ferry at Martha’s Vineyard.

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Sable at Dilly’s

“I think what the vineyard has opened up for me more and more is the necessity to habituate getaways – the absolute need to build into my schedule and name the act of getting/going away at least once a month. These don’t have to be elaborate or expensive. It could just be a day trip somewhere outside of the city. But the sonic architecture of my life needs to be modulated.” — Sable

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Back Door Donuts

Sable Elyse Smith with a donut from Back Door Donuts in Ocean Park.

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Churros at Dilly’s

Dessert.

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Seagweed’s

An intimate meal for two.

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Aunt Judith at Home

The wall behind her features paintings by her grandmother, Irma Wheat, as well as a portrait of her grandparents, Don and Irma Wheat, with her mother, Constance Batty.

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Those Who Have Passed

“For me, the Island is more about relaxed social interactions as opposed to self-care. Usually, when I am on the Island, my whole family is here and, I am visiting friends, going to dinner, entertaining, etc. This summer was different. I spent four months on the Island, something I had never done before. It was relaxing and less stressful than many other places dealing with the pandemic. I felt lucky and privileged to have the house. It has always been a place of family for me, but it was particularly meaningful this summer with most of my family in the house.” – Aunt Judith

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Batty Family Portraits

Aunt Judith’s family home is decorated with memories of beautiful times passed.

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Serenity

“Self-care is doing what makes me feel good about myself. It can be as simple as having a manicure or as complicated as having a difficult conversation. The key for me is understanding what I need at the time to make me feel confident, whole, and validated. As a Black woman, self-care is even more important since we are not always cared for and validated by society at large.” — Aunt Judith

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The Inkwell

Inkwell beach is a historic site frequented by African American people in the late 1890s and is also home to The Polar Bears – a group of sunrise beachgoers who gather to swim, exercise, and commune.

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Sunset at Menemsha

“I have experienced a different kind of silence here by the ocean, on this island, [and] at night. At 7 am and that is medicine to me. Being here also is just a reminder of how important the ocean is for me spiritually.’ – Sable

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Naima at Waban Park

Naima Green is an artist and educator based in New York. Green was one of the first creators to have the opportunity to shoot with the new iPhone 12 Pro from Apple. Each of these images was shot exclusively on the new iPhone.

Naima Green