A portrait of my best friend and former housemate, "D." A poetic queer immigrant from Malaysia with a heart for all who face persecution and misunderstanding by others, especially from within their own families. In keeping with the idea that the best critique of the bad is the practice of the better, she is dedicated to expanding her own mind, and fiercely protecting the members of the younger generation whose lives she impacts. A proud auntie to anyone (especially a fellow neurodivergent) who needs or wants to be taken under a safe wing. She is an avid participant in smart and subtle and protest subcultures, especially in the fields of fashion (where she works) and music (her great love).
Dania Azman Al Rashid
NO HUman Being is illegal
NO HUman Being is illegal
Along the Union Pacific Railway, Swayer Heights, Houston. Photographed by Jeremiah Gronowski, Nowski Visual.
Tosin: public theologian, writer,
community-builder and question-asker. In a jointly-created visual exploration of the indomitability of the human spirit and its tendency to emerge from stress, oppression, and trauma
into full-flowered flourishing, both individual and collective. When asked how she wanted to feel during this shoot, Tosin replied "I would like to feel so deeply human in all of this that it feels divine." I wish I had video of her dancing to Beyonce's "Find Your Way Back" while Bethany changed the lens on her camera. She was just hauntingly gorgeous and free. Watch out for this one.
The Studio above Tout Suite, EADO, Houston
Creative direction: Tosin Akanda + HML
Floral set: HML
Wardrobe: Divine The Tailor
Photographed by Bethany Brewster
Tosin Akande
So Human It Feels Divine
Doing things her own way. Knowing what she is worth. Rolling her eyes about the wage gap. As one should. A playful exploration of women's expected self-presentation in the work force; the attitude and cosplay of masculine power that is often necessary for women and femmes to be taken seriously in places of business, especially if they are ambitious by nature, or just happen to have big energy.
Carly
CARLY:
She Means
BUsiness
Sanman Studios
North Downtown Houston
Art Direction, wardrobe, and Photography: Sean and Carissa Archibong of The C S Visuals.
A playful reimagining of the early 19th-century naturalist's posture towards ecology: initially motivated by scientific curiosity and love, it eventually progressed into specimen over-harvesting and aggressive categorization modalities that lead to overly-siloed thinking. We started with the movement's better angels--wonder, awe, reverence, curiosity, care--and leaned back into a more sustainable approach to studying the more-than-human-world: one driven not so much by what we can learn about nature as by what we can learn from her. Namely the mind-blowing interconnectedness and interdependency of all beings. No creature exists apart from every other. Modeled by Reed Bussey (proprietor of Ollie Shop on the 3200 block of Milam in Midtown), herself a proverbial mycelium network connecting a robust ecosystem of Houston-area artists, makers, and microbusiness entrepreneurs. A tastemaker and passionate attention-payer whose dream is honestly just to facilitate a well-integrated and mutually thriving creative community.
Shot at Houston Warehouse Studios, Near Northside
Art direction and botanical set by HML
Photography by Daniel Colvin
Reed
The Naturalist
Our model Elijah (who goes by Rain) supplied his own traditional Nigerian attire for this dreamlike, regal photoshoot. Sean and Carissa of The C S Visuals envisioned an indoor rainforest in which to let the subject drift into a reverie, and here Rain created a deep well of remembering; an intentional practice of not forgetting, as Carissa put it, "where we come from; especially with being a Nigerian in the US, it's very easy to get lost in the culture here. But always staying rooted to where you're from is key." With posture that commands respect for himself and his ancestors, our friend betrays his tender love for his deep roots; both here, in Houston's African diaspora, and across the ocean at his family's point of origin.
Rain LOGOS
"ROOTS"
Sanman Studios, North Downtown Houston
Art Direction and Photography: Sean and Carissa Archibong of The C S Visuals.