We are the embodiment of a new history— a history renewed by reclamation and documentation. We are history. By being, we manifest the impossible. 

Kiara Marshall

 

Zachary Tye Richardson

 

Ericka Hart

Juliu’s Bar

Juliu’s Bar

The blueprint left before us by those we honor charts a path of internal struggle. But through the energy of our ancestors and the promise of liberation, we shape-shift into truth, declare through glamour, and cultivate collective power. We create history today as we make mistakes, unlearn and relearn, grow outward, reach inward, love wholly, and stand in our power. 

Joshua Allen.

Every roar and every kindness sends ripples through narratives of conformity.

The Joyce Theatre

The Joyce Theatre

Jeffhova

 
 

Vinny Maruri

West Dakota

Power springs forth from the femme, the fluid, the fortuitous, the fighting, the free, the forgotten. 

 

Artemis

 

Alok Menon

We bear the torch for those who will come after us, from those who came before us. We fuel ourselves to feed others. We are seeds planted in rich soil, growing in the cupped palms of ancestors, spirits, survivors, lovers, and friends. 

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Casa Magazines

 
West 21st Street

West 21st Street

Emani Castillo

Lorelei Black

When we draw equally from the same strong vibration, we feel power. 

 

Chella Mann and Mary V.

Our beauty is adorned in jewels. It is embraced in the ocean, covered, safe, and whole. It is naked, languid, alone, and safe. Sometimes, it is difficult. Sometimes, it is an absence of beauty. But always, it is kind. Our beauty brings us into a space of nourishment where we can share life with one another. 

Jeffrey Prada

 

Jari Jones and Corey Daniella Kempster

Harry Charlesworth

Our history will be told in stories of thriving. Collective healing, self determination, reparations, and redistribution will wash over the fears that block truth. We will mend each wound burst open by dichotomies. 

Leo Sherman

Golden Penny

 

Lilly Olsen

But creating our history requires cultivating the imagination to see power as something new. 

 

Fatima Jamal

 

Mohamed

Simone

Imagine a power that is Black and queer. Imagine a power that is communal. Imagine a power that nurtures beauty and knowledge. This is the power we create today. 

“This collective manifesto was generated through responses from subjects of these photographs. It was generated by each of us but represents all of us.”