In My Room: Miles Jay
Nomadic life is no stranger to Miles Jay. Since he was six, his sense of home has been in flux, from moving houses to cities to travelling for work. Grounded by a grand piano in one corner and a handcrafted sound system in the other, the filmmaker's current home in New York's East Village is intentionally sparse, leaving room for the few items he cares for most—and plenty of room to gather.
We asked Miles to invite us in for the latest installment of our In My Room series—a look into our community's favourite spaces and the objects, people and moments that create them.
Photographed by Kristina Dittmar.
Miles wears the Essential Crew and Crew Socks
Tell us about your home.
This may be getting a little philosophical, but the idea of home has evolved deeply for me in the past year. As someone who travels for work and grew up with separated parents, 'home' was always a rock I craved—something to ground me in the nomadic life I've lived since I was a kid.
As for so many, that need for grounding heightened when the pandemic erupted. My girlfriend at the time and I took lockdown as a gift to lay down roots with each other in LA. As the world seemed in peril, it was also one of the most beautiful times of my life creating that home. I decided to let go of my place in Brooklyn, the first home I had built for myself as an adult and had lived alone in for eight years.
Unfortunately, that relationship didn't work out, and I had to leave the home we built together behind. Then a few months later, my mother told me she was selling the home we grew up in, which had always been our family's symbol. I found myself moving out of every home I'd ever loved in an eight-month window.