TELEPATHIC PLANT LOVE
A story of sisters, connection, and yes, fashion
I recorded a video above that says this better than I can in writing, so start there if you haven’t already.
Several months back I was asked to photograph Natalia and Nina Meehan, along with their sister, mother and grandmother for Human Shift magazine. Natalia has dedicated her life to supporting Nina, her non-speaking Autistic sister, and other non-speakers, in learning to communicate. These sisters share an extraordinary bond, rooted in a kind of communication that goes far beyond how most of us experience our own existence and connectedness to each other and the natural world. Nina has a remarkable gift for communicating with plants, and is able to translate that intelligence and pass it along to people, to help them heal. She is, simply, a brilliant person with access to something most of us don't have words for.
You can read the full interview in issue 7 of Human Shift, out now, and hear their story in the second season of The Telepathy Tapes.
Nina communicates by spelling, pointing letter by letter on a board. Natalia’s softness with Nina, her patience, the language she uses, the respect in it, all of it was its own kind of teaching to witness.
We listened to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac and “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars, Nina’s favorites, on repeat for the day. When it came to wardrobe, Nina knew exactly what she wanted, as any 20-year-old woman who loves fashion would. I'd brought a more demure embroidered button-down, thinking it might suit her for the family's last shot. She chose the white strapless party dress instead. Obviously.
When I was asked to shoot this story, it was suggested I pull from my Mara Hoffman archives to dress them. My first reaction was discomfort. I felt like I needed distance from the brand as I moved into this next phase of my creative life. But after talking with Natalia about her vision for the shoot, how she wanted it to feel and look, it hit me that the archival pieces were exactly what was needed. Both for the aesthetic and for a piece of my own healing that returning to that past work could offer. I wrote about that return to the archives here.
Being in the presence of this truly beautiful family, witnessing their devotion to one another and their unwavering ability to hold higher, unseen forms of intelligence with grace and reverence, was a gift. Being trusted to hold their story, to bring forward and share their beauty as best I could, feels like a key piece of my purpose here.
For more on the Meehans and their work:
thenina.foundation
floweringfutures.com/team
Big love to the team, production: Lumien Creative, Styling Lysa Cooper, Hair Andrita, Makeup YuuiVision
This is really beautiful and so so special
This is so sick!!!! I am amazed and inspired! Thank you for sharing 🙏