Issue 60

In Issue Sixty, Kinfolk looks to the past.

History functions as a cultural and political undercurrent, and we consider how it informs the stories nations tell about themselves, the identities individuals construct and the structures of power that societies accept. Across the issue, we hear from leading voices who are reinterpreting the past and shaping how the present is understood.

In London, we spend a morning with Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, who reflects on the challenge of stewarding the institution in an era increasingly defined by questions of restitution and accountability. In New York, Nikole Hannah-Jones—the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist behind the 1619 Project—explains why revisiting foundational national narratives remains urgent today, while in Paris, writer Daphnée Denis examines the politics of remembering figures precisely because they were forgotten. Elsewhere, we meet David Chipperfield, the seminal architect known for his sensitive work with historic buildings.

We also visit a series of homes, each with a history of its own: in Helsinki, the atelier apartment of artist Tove Jansson; in Los Angeles, the glamorous midcentury properties restored by design studio Ome Dezin, and Flamingo Estate, Richard Christiansen’s botanical pleasureland.