Lagos in October is hot, stifling, exhausting. But town has a magic of reviving itself when fashion, art and design weeks come around. In considered one of town’s affluent suburbs, an exhibition unfolds, the massive frames of photographs pegged to lean strings of ropes.

In several portraits, star subjects wear gravity-defying gowns, knitted dresses, perch-feathered corsetry, sequinned silhouettes, with faces fully glammed-up; hair, nails and neck all accessorised.

Happening October 22, the exhibition, titled UnCommon Beauty, shared a glimpse into the truth and exquisite existence of trans women, drag artists and cross-dressers living in Nigeria – in a rustic that tries to shroud their existence with a still-on-ground legislative bill, and relentlessly pushes to oppress and annihilate them.

Created and directed by Priscilla Nzimiro Nwanah and executive produced by Lusanda Chauke, UnCommon Beauty is made up of two parts: a docu-series presented by Nigerian stylist and inventive director Uche Uba, which episodically spotlights the 13 subjects telling their stories of struggle and navigation. And a photograph series shot by Toronto-based photographer Jah Grey and directed by Uba.

Exploring what it means to be beautiful beyond society’s narrow standard of what beauty is, UnCommon Beauty is fierce, vocal and emotionally eruptive, championing the people defining themselves without constraining their boldness. We spoke to Uba and Grey on the method, importance and lessons concerning the project.

What’s your background prior to this project?

Jah Grey: I’ve been doing photography for ten years but I began doing solely portraits in late 2013. The concept of my work began with redefining masculinity and mainly make clear the spectrum and the way fluid masculinity may very well be, and that stands from my very own identity as a trans man and what that appears like for me coming out from my old self navigating as a Black woman to navigating life as a Black man.

I had a variety of issues with some things I used to be exploring now on this body, a variety of pieces that didn’t allow me to slot in due to stereotype and expectations specifically as a Black man. My family is from Jamaica and a part of being LGBTQ+ is criminalised in Jamaica so there have been a variety of challenges I faced attempting to turn out to be who I’m.

It sparked a variety of curiosity and questioning of what masculinity was and along the way in which I started to search out a really problematic concept of masculinity and I desired to create room for myself. So my work is an exploration of what that appears like.

How did the thought for ‘UnCommon Beauty’ first emerge?

Uche Uba: The thought originally wasn’t mine. Everything of it was by a beautiful producer Priscilla Nzimiro Nwanah, she had reached out to me just a few weeks after The AMVCA awards and told me she would want me to anchor the conversation across the docu-series and likewise creative direct the photo-series.

Prior to this, she had done what could be the muse of this project 4 or five years back; she had brought together five people, including trans women and drag personalities, and had asked them questions on their experiences within the country.

What was the intent for this project?

Uche Uba: Nwanah was very concerned with documenting the minority of the minorities within the LGBTQ+ community in Nigeria, she desired to document trans people, drag stars. The docu-series highlights the day-to-day experiences of everybody after which the photo series captures them in beautiful and vibrant dresses. The photo series she totally left every little thing entirely in my power because the creative director.

What I did for that was to interpret their realities and stories from what our conversations had been within the docu-series and tried to include it within the photo series.

What was the method like?

Uche Uba: To be honest, it was a bit hectic. I haven’t needed to anchor or lead a conversation. To me, it was like an eye-opener listening to their different stories and learning every little thing they’ve been through. It made me see the queer community from a special perspective that I hadn’t seen.

It was very tasking having that conversation with them due to language barrier and experience barrier because a lot of the things I heard from them weren’t relatable to me. It was the primary time I got to champion that type of conversation and it was tasking listening to their stories, a few of which were gut-wrenching stories.

Jah Grey: The method was very different from what I’d often do here for a lot of reasons. I wasn’t particularly used to the environment too well but I believe what made it easier was there have been already participants for the documentary. I used to be in Nigeria for a month and two weeks and it was spent exploring a little bit of Lagos, meeting the participants and having conversations with them. I got a likelihood to dive deeper into their stories of who they were and likewise their experiences.

How obligatory did you are feeling this project was knowing that it’s going to capture the visibility of those trans women, drag personalities and cross-dressers in a rustic that usually refuses to acknowledge their existence?

Uche Uba: I actually asked that query as well when the project got here to me since it’s mainly someone who sees herself as an ally but isn’t a member of the queer community who was making this project. So I asked her why she was attempting to tell this story. But at the top of the day, I also realised that given the undeniable fact that queer persons are marginalised,

there may not be that much of a resource to drag off something of this capability and to have the option to inform our own story. The trans people I do know of are still trying to return to terms with their reality in Nigeria, navigating the system and the country as a complete.

So it’s going to take some time for somebody to centre themselves saying they wish to tell this story as a part of the community they exist in. So it made sense for somebody who had the influence and resources and does understand the struggles of those on this community and appreciate them to inform this story on their behalf.

I also did ask why we’re telling this particular story. We’ve seen the queer people who find themselves deemed worthy, are the face of the community, possibly due to their class or how much access they’ve. We already know their very own stories, so we desired to get people we very much didn’t know – people who find themselves battling the cruel reality of what it means to be a trans person or drag personality living in Nigeria.

Jah Grey: It was very relevant just because we exist. It would all the time be a relevant topic because we’re humans too, we now have our joys, pain, differences but after all, we navigate a variety of challenges. It felt essential to me to tackle this project because in my day-to-day, I’m documenting more specifically Black men and I speak about masculinity, vulnerability, joy,

healing. I even have my very own life experiences here in Toronto, but I used to be very much curious to learn and listen to concerning the stories of oldsters that live in Nigeria. I had a variety of thoughts and feelings in regard to the protection of those folks, I used to be like ‘after the project, what happens to the individuals which can be shown around?’ Because now they might be in the general public light and everybody would see them.

There’s a really structured semantic behind the exhibition title UnCommon Beauty who got here up with the name?

Uche Uba: It was originally the producer. The name UnCommon Beauty was about documenting people who find themselves on the margins of society in Nigeria. They’re beautiful and to be honest, there shouldn’t be anything unusual concerning the way they appear or the way in which their beauty is perceived.

Beauty at the top of the day is in the attention of the beholder but it is rather essential to indicate the undeniable fact that these are folks that have been branded unusual but there remains to be beauty throughout the context of what is rare.

As much as possible, the more you open your mind and find out about these people and their reality, the less unusual they’re. But at the top of the day, that is where we’re as a society and it puts it on the market, that these are people society has refused to acknowledge but they’re still beautiful.

What was your biggest takeaway from the project?

Uche Uba: My biggest takeaway from the project was there’s all the time room to listen, you may’t know every little thing – people’s experiences differ. You’ll be able to’t really understand anybody living under a rock and also you aren’t aware of the truth of other people besides you. It definitely opened me up when it comes to listening, acceptance – there was just a lot but I believe my biggest takeaway was creating space for other people to settle into.