Opulence is an ongoing photographic project documenting Ballroom communities across Europe, developed through more than a decade of encounters in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Milan and other cities. Initiated partly in response to the loss of Thierry’s brother, the project began from questions of family, sexuality, belonging and the conditions under which Black queer lives are made visible.
The work follows Ballroom as both a cultural form and a structure of relation. Within the scene, Houses can operate as chosen families, creating networks of kinship, mentorship, competition, care and self-definition beyond conventional family structures. For participants navigating racism, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of social exclusion, these relationships complicate conventional distinctions between family, community and survival.
Rather than approaching Ballroom primarily through spectacle, Opulence concentrates on portraiture and the encounter between photographer and photographed person. Developed through sustained participation and relationships within the community, the photographs consider what it means to represent people whose bodies and identities have historically been subjected to simultaneous visibility, categorisation, desire and erasure.
This tension between visibility and concealment is also present materially within the work. Predominantly photographed in black and white, selected works incorporate UV-visible ink: elements of an image or text remain concealed under ordinary conditions and become visible only when exposed to ultraviolet light. Visibility is therefore not treated as an uncomplicated form of liberation, but as something conditional—something that can be offered, withheld, negotiated or transformed.