Altar Bubbles: LUMXN for Femme Fatale DC
By Marlin Ramos
Photo Editor + Model: Stacy Fernandez
Edited for Femme Fatale DC by Briget Heidmous
This is an abridged publication of Altar Bubbles by Marlin Ramos and Stacy Fernandez originally published by LUMXN Zine. Read the full article and more from LUMXN.
“Foaming bubbles that gently cleanse,” the bottle reads.
Bubble baths gently strip layers away from our skin leaving only the parts you can’t ever wash away—the gentleness of who you truly are.
Submerged in warm water that is the sea of your tub, you find grounding in self care through a ritual that happens everyday, cleansing yourself.
Our tubs become altars that allow us to cleanse and feel centered. Calling on the playfulness of blowing bubbles as a kid, bubbles baths adorned like altars taps us into the cycle of the now and the past. Can the younger version of ourselves be considered ancestors? Can people who are still alive be our ancestors? Is culture in itself an ancestor? We think so.
LUMXN (/ˈlo͞omən/) is a print publication where that light is allowed to shine.
In the pages of our different prints, we create space for those figuring it all out, whether they’re on step one of the journey or step 23. We invite poets, scholars, writers, and everyday people across generations to share stories from their journeys to understanding and embracing their light. We do this because we know that our individual journeys to healing are ongoing, eternal and powerful.
We believe that by validating all of our specific experiences collectively, we can heal and inspire each other to be unapologetically ourselves—to shine together.
LUMXN = LIGHT Womxn of color experience life in a unique way. Coming into being, maintaining our being — simply being — requires a unique kind of light.
