Natalie was invited to offer her reflections on life after thirty for Image journal’s 30th-anniversary issue. A nighttime image of Elder, Settles’ recent large-scale etched glass commission, accompanies her thoughts:
LIFE AFTER THIRTY
My fourth decade was a passage through death to life. So much dimmed and came to a halt. Yet by the end, I stepped out and entered the next decade blinking and taking my bearings. It’s possible I will look back on my thirties as my most transformative passage.