These images reminded me profoundly of my grandmother, Ruthie, who passed away when I was three years old. I know her through distant memories: her voice, old photos, and anecdotes from my parents and one cousin. The consensus is that my grandmother had a very serious mood disorder and was a sex addict. I’m sure these aren’t the terms she would like to me to use when memorializing her, but, from what I have been able to gather, these are facts. She was exotically beautiful and, in the 1970s, was dressed in an almost inexplicable profusion of scarves and jewelry. In short, she and Keith were a sartorial unity. Was she copying him? Was it a coincidence? Was he trying to dress like a hyper-sexual woman in her 40s? I am of the mind that whether we intend it to or not, our dress is emblematic of our emotional state.

In An Unmarried Woman, I reinterpret these images of Keith Richards in the 1970s, creating a character inspired by my grandmother, as well as my own struggles with substances. In weaving this narrative, I invent a relationship with my grandmother that I was never able to have during her lifetime, while also exploring my own darkest impulses as I come up on two years of sobriety. This is my contribution to the feminist narrative: a piece about matriarchs, role-models, self-possession, addiction, and Keith Richards.