I was introduced to Iniko an extremely talented artist by a mutual online friend. We connected over facebook messenger but didn't end up meeting for the shoot until the last 2 weeks of my time in Tokyo due to both of our busy schedules. I had so much fun shooting them, we got to talk about our mutual passions of performing arts, acting and music while exploring Hinokicho Park. I had always walked by and through this park on my way to dinner parties but I had never taken the time to truly explore this tiny slice of nature in the middle of Roppongi.

One of the things Iniko and I talked about was what intrigued them about the project. They said, "For most of my life I've navigated as a black femme and only recently realized that I am genderfluid. I wanted to be able to play with that fluidity in this shoot. Being ambiguous to people has always been something I love." I was so happy to hear that because I love using fashion and my body to play with gender. And I loved the outfit that Iniko wore because it played with different binaries like child/adult, feminine/masculine.

When asked about the portrayal of blackness in Japan Iniko stated, "Blackness in Tokyo is still thought of as a style, I think. There are shops dedicated to looking ghetto and Ive seen plenty of Japanese people with cornrows and tanned skin. However, that perception is slowly but surely changing." My eyes widened, thankfully I never saw any of the stores that sell ghetto chic because I would have had some words about the commodification of blackness in Japan. But I have seen multiple Japanese people treat my friends and I like our hair or our bodies were open for consumption. I'm happy they think the perception is slowly changing but with black face still happening in Japan on television they have a long way to go.

Check out Iniko's music on Spotify here.

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In late 2015 this photography series was created, like me, under a different name. And, after a period of thought and reflection, I've decided to change it from Black Femme Magic to An Archive of Softness. My inspirations have changed over the years but the seed that this project has blossomed into was always there.

I met Sydney Daviston outside of a large American military base in Itaewon, Seoul. We walked away from bustling streets and explored the quieter alleys. A post on a Seoul artist Facebook group connected us. Sydney felt that "most of the 'representation' we have is negative and even harmful, so I wanted to see more positive and badass examples of black women and femmes." At its core, my photo series has always been about changing the visual language around marginalized and under represented people. Fashion photography is the lens through which my models and I fight back against their absence and vilification in the media.

Issues of representation take on even more complex dimensions as a black person living abroad. Sydney and I talked about what it was like in Japan versus Korea. She said of her own experience, "Although I love living in Korea, this country still has a long way to go. Korea is known for having the best and fastest internet in the world, and you'd think that would mean something, but blackface and racially ignorant and insensitive (and flat out WRONG) portrayals of black people are still commonplace in Korean entertainment."

Ideas around blackness take on a more myopic form in places without racial diversity. So a population with a multiplicity of identities becomes flattened into a few stock characters. My Archive of Softness pushes against the compression.

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