When I met model Mya Seriki through the Model FB group, I knew I wanted to create more than just an editorial—I wanted to make a relic. This shoot became a meditation on ancestry, fashion, and the fragile ways Black Americans carry memory through fabric, objects, and ritual.
I have long been drawn to the tradition of African textiles. On a trip to Vietnam, I carried bolts of fabric, hoping to transform them into outfits, but one piece never made it to the tailor. Instead, it returned with me, untouched. That fabric became the backdrop for this session with Mya, turning an accident into blessing.
For the first time, I built a set of my own. I steamed and hung the cloth, arranged a table and vase, and chose dried flowers to symbolize connection to the ancestors—seemingly gone, yet always present, fragile but enduring. Mya wore a green dress, its color representing fertility and life, and held a carved mask I brought back from Nairobi, Kenya.
Each detail was intentional: the fabric, the mask, the flowers. Together, they tell a story about how we reach across time through the objects we inherit, the textures we preserve, and the images we make. In these photographs, Mya embodies royalty—an echo of what has been lost, and a reminder that even fragile connections remain alive, waiting to be seen.
Fashion is never just clothing. It is memory, inheritance, and survival. This shoot is my offering: a reminder that though history has scattered us, the relics of who we are still gather, waiting for us to remember.
If you are interested in booking a shoot. Click here.