I didn’t know exactly what to expect when visiting Jessica Tonder's mother Lucy in Key Biscayne, but I had a good feeling about it by the bedazzled chokers she made and sent me in the mail. We arrived to the Towers of Key Biscayne, and when I opened the door, it was heaven. Lucy, all in white, was lounging in her white living room, and I mistook her for a statue as she blended into the godly décor – she was perfection. All of a sudden my friend Jessica made sense to me. Of course, she is the way she is – growing up in a curated heaven draped in gold, white and roses. The first few days it stormed. Lucy art directed photographs of us in the apartment calling her dress up closet Lucy’s Boutique and told us to “hug the columns like Romans." We went to Vizcaya, embraced the rain and took a dip in its fountains. Once we were soaked we took refuge in the man made caves. We visited exotic animals, as I’ve been dreaming of holding a baby monkey for far too long. My dream came true, and Jessica took a panther for a walk in her cream suit and hat ensemble. What a vision she was. All in all, I left Miami feeling a bit freer. Spending time with Jessica, Lucy and no ‘sane’ person around to stop us, I got to see how fabulous life can become even in seemingly mundane moments. Text by Ariana Papademetropoulos. Photographs by Ariana Papademetropoulos and Jessica Tonder
On the Hunt for Conservation: Read Our Interview With Dylan Johnston On The Great Python Challenge →
Dylan Johnston has documented the Florida Python Challenge, one of the Florida Wildlife Commission’s more successful attempts to eradicate the invasive and evasive snake, for the past three years. In 2013, he began the project after mention from a friend in Sarasota, only a few hours from the river of grass, and has worked on the project since, immersing himself in the unforgiving environment that is the Everglades. Johnston, from Ft. Pierce, has worked on plenty of projects and assignments in his home-state, detailing the life of working in junkyards to rigging ballyhoos while trolling for pelagic species in the Gulf-stream just off Southern Florida’s east coast. Click here to read more.