Instagram story viewer> @meeshymartin> Posts

Michelle Martin

@meeshymartin

2.5K

followers

2975

following

not in kansas anymore
@belindaroseband

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

New Orleans goes by many names, but the one I’ve always found the most interesting is the “city that care forgot.”

In a sinking land where the potholes seem to outnumber the people, it’s easy to think that may be the case. And while the laid back attitude of locals could suggest a level of neglect to an unbeknownst outsider, it’s a place where the people actually care a whole lot. About tradition, about each other, about the fragility of the bayou, and surely about the merit of every new restaurant that opens in town.

Each time I come back to New Orleans it’s a sort of homecoming. I feel an ease and sense of comfort that can only come from a place that means so much to me. It’s a feeling of warm nostalgia, accompanied by a rush of humid air that drifts slowly through tangles of Spanish moss.

Last week I returned to where I spent the four most formative years of my education, and I was reminded of how New Orleans continues to teach me. Not just about the way that history imprints itself on the lives of past generations and the ones to come, but that this city will never truly leave you.

Even if your time in New Orleans is fleeting, it has a way of staying with you - nestling itself in your memory amongst the blur of bourbon-soaked nights and the saccharine tune of saxophones. I now live 4,000 miles away in a European capital that shares some of its dilapidated characteristics, and I get to carry this place with me wherever I go.

New Orleans seems to tell us that it may be a city that care has forgotten, and that the world we’re living in may be crazier than ever. But goddammit with a few fried oysters, a cold Pimm’s cup, and good company, it’ll all be ok. Because right now you are in a special place that won’t be here forever, and that’s what it’s really all about.

Here’s a collection of my favorite New Orleans moments from the past 10 years. Custom prints available upon request, link in bio 🩵

xx Meesh taken in New Orleans, Louisiana by @meeshymartin

205

24

10 months ago

New York is the kind of place that makes you feel important while simultaneously not giving a shit about you. It’s constantly changing, yet somehow has the same energy every time you return. And even though I’ve lived outside of the US for six years now, I find my way back to this city almost every year.

Like so many metropolises around the world, there’s a feeling of slipping. It’s a yearning to hold on to what once was as the inevitable tide of change creeps in, amplified by rising rents and uncertain futures.

When I visited a few weeks ago, I got to see New York through the eyes of @jsimoes95’s parents on their first trip to America, all while witnessing the excitement of a place that just elected its first glimmer of political hope in a long ass time. I gained a fresh appreciation for a history I’d never truly explored, while also being acutely reminded of all the fundamental ways we’re failing as a country.

As the trip came to a close, I remembered why I always come back. It’s because with every new street corner comes a sequence of stories: not just the ones that have already been written, but the possibilities held by the ones still waiting to unfold. Until next time, New York. I’ll be counting down the days until I see you again, even though I know you aren’t waiting for me.

xx Meesh taken in New York City by @meeshymartin

200

21

a year ago

All we leave to this world is what we create - whether that’s art, an emotion, or a memory for someone else.

For the last few years, I’ve been creating so much for other people that my own art always fell to the bottom of the to do list. While I never stopped taking photos, I did stop sharing them. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was starting to lose that part of my identity.

But since going freelance in April, I’ve gained so much clarity on what I want to keep creating. So stick around if you want to see more of my work, exciting things are coming 🩵 taken in Lisbon, Portugal by @meeshymartin

576

116

a year ago

tour so far ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
tonight at @sonusartfest, then @maushabitos oct/23 and @musademarvila oct/24. see you there 🦋

thank you to all our amazing photographers @celiamontesphotography @everything_is_dust @photos.arther we love you ❣️ by @meeshymartin

190

4

9 days ago

August has now become synonymous with Paredes: a respite, a reunion, a release.

It always passes in a euphoric blur, the sun soaked days by the river bleeding into the 5 am nights and the countless encounters with friends. For one week a year everything seems to stop, paused in time amidst the backdrop of concerts put on by artists that must be thinking to themselves, “damn, this small corner of Northern Portugal has to be one of the best music venues in the world.”

It’s my fifth time making this annual pilgrimage, and I can say it never gets old. Until next year Paredes, estou a tua espera

xx Meesh 🩵 taken in Festival Vodafone Paredes de Coura by @meeshymartin

340

35

2 months ago

and it’s still the beginning of 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌. so much has already happened, still many things to come. keep your vision clear. by @meeshymartin

486

38

5 months ago

A spring recap filled with experiences, new and old.

The new took on the form of recording @belindaroseband debut album, performing on stage for the first time, meeting fresh faces, and welcoming my 29th year with rotisserie chicken.

The old consisted of meeting up with long-time friends, revisiting art forms I’ve spent far too long away from, coming back to the land of vermut and croquetas, and returning to some of @jsimoes95 favorite spots around Lisbon.

A season that always feels a bit familiar, yet never ceases to surprise.

xx Meesh 🩵 by @meeshymartin

129

8

5 months ago

belinda. so, this is a band now.

our debut album “turn to clear vision” is coming later this year. recorded and produced in porto with @claudiolagotavares and @anri_the_wizard

tour dates to come, and a live session recorded with @praca.studio and @miguel_vilhena - can’t wait.

📷 by @marianasilvax and our oldie goldie film camera taken in Lisbon, Portugal by @meeshymartin

568

53

5 months ago

I knew ever since I was a kid that I couldn’t live in a place with harsh winters. The thought of battling wind chills and sub-zero temps on a regular basis has always been my personal version of hell.

Yet when we visited Japan in February of last year, my favorite part of the trip happened to be the coldest. @jsimoes95 and I toured the mountains of Nanto in our boxy rented Nissan, experiencing the warmth of the locals and the coziness of onsens at dusk.

My relationship with winter has changed this year. Instead of leaning into the all-in energy that normally comes with the new year, I looked inward and slowed down. This was both by choice and by force, as a pretty serious knee injury and a full straight month of storms in Portugal kept me inside more than normal.

But as I look ahead to spring and sun, I find myself looking back at these snow-covered archives, once again pausing to recognize that with each season comes an invitation to let nature guide your actions. And sometimes the message is that instead of forging ahead full speed, the best possible use of your time is to stay inside, take it all in, and watch the snow fall around you.

xx Meesh 🩵 taken in Japan by @meeshymartin

158

10

7 months ago

I’ve always hated January. The whole world gets back to business as the holiday glow fades. And with the return to routine and the reflection that comes with yearly goal setting, I find myself confronted by the ghosts of unkept promises from years past. They come knocking at the door, reminding me that they haven’t gone anywhere despite my best efforts to forget about them and make new ones.

In fact, one of the ghosts that has haunted me for a couple years running has been the end-of-year Instagram post, a time to showcase the highlights from the past 365 days in photographic form. Despite it being a silly little social media post, for me it’s always represented something more daunting: a failure to share my work, expressed in the form of unedited trip photos and hoarded visual memories.

And while the thought, “oh, it’s just Instagram, no one really cares,” crosses my mind, I can’t shake the deeper feeling that I actually do care. Because it’s human nature to want to preserve the past, to look back on the snapshots of the year that pass by. It’s normal to want to hold on to the way we look at a specific moment in time, knowing that we won’t look exactly that way ever again. More than that, the people we love won’t be here forever, and they deserve to see these memories, too.

All of this goes to say, here’s what my 2025 looked like. It was monumental. I left my job to go freelance, went on the trip of a lifetime to Asia, welcomed my nephew, saw more concerts than I can count, showed @jsimoes95 parents America for the first time, and grew immensely from mentorships and other women I look up to. Most of all, I decided I was over my own bullshit - finally claiming my identity as an artist, embarking on new projects that I can’t wait to share with the world this year.

As January flew by, the ghosts of past year-end posts kept knocking. But with a new year always comes the chance to choose differently (even if those choices come a few weeks late). So please enjoy this series of moments from 2025, and thank you to all the people who made it such a memorable year.

2026, I can tell you’ve got a lot in store for me already, with fewer ghosts knocking at my door. by @meeshymartin

227

24

8 months ago

thank you for filling up the room for us again at Ouro Incenso e Birra ❤️ taken in Fermentage by @meeshymartin

368

3

9 months ago

I was asked the other day about my favorite Christmas. Thinking about the answer, a highlight reel of Christmases flashed by: Kansas City traditions, ski trips to the Rockies, the time I came back from Spain to surprise my family, and my first bacalhau de Natal in Portugal.

But one Christmas sticks out among the others, a special week within a growing roster of holidays that pass by with each season.

Four years ago, @ingriidlandmark invited me to spend Christmas with her family in Norway. That week was filled with days of eating too many helpings of pinnekjøtt, fetching wood for the cabin fire, and meandering hours of card games accompanied by far too many slices of brown cheese (plus falling on my ass during my first attempt at cross country skiing). I’ll always remember the way the light fell there, the brightest hour of sunshine feeling more like dusk.

Between all of these memories, I felt a distinct warmth. Not only from the hygge so typical of Norwegian homes, but from the people who made me forget how far I was from my own.

Spending the holidays away from family is always difficult, and while this year I’m lucky to spend it with mine, I remain grateful for those who have welcomed me into theirs in the past.

Experiencing holiday traditions outside of your own culture is something I hope everyone gets to experience at least once. Because it’s in those moments that you realize while languages and passports may separate us, we’re not really separated by much at all.

happy holidays 🩵
xx Meesh taken in Norway by @meeshymartin

191

11

10 months ago