In her series Cousins, Kristen Emack’s daughter and nieces are most often pictured together. However, Emack includes a few individual portraits in the series. In a particularly arresting image, one of the girls is shown cocooned in ear muffs with her eyes closed. Astonishingly, the circular shape of her irises and traces of the whites of the eye appear visible beneath her eyelids, as if her eyes were simultaneously open and closed. Emack may have used a long exposure to catch the eyes in motion, or it may be a recipe of illusion, made from shadow, contour, and light. Either way, the effect is startling once it’s seen. 

Emack notes that the cousins often make an intentional decision to look directly into the camera. The girl in Earmuffs has gone inward to a deeply personal place. But we are not voyeurs of the moment. As we gaze at her, she is simultaneously looking back at us. 

- Mia + Lisa