Justin, Unity Human Rights Ball, Manhattan, NY, November 11, 2016

"The balls are a celebration of black and Latino urban gay life. They were born in Harlem out of a need for black and Latino gays to have a safe space to express themselves. Balls are constructed like beauty and talent pageants. The participants work to redefine and critique gender and sexual identity through an extravagant fashion masquerade. Women and men become fluid, interchangeable points of departure and reference, disrupting the notion of a fixed and rigid gender and sexual self. My images try to show a more personal and intimate beauty, pride, dignity, courage, and grace that have been painfully challenged by mainstream society. All of this happens at night in small halls in cities all over the country. These photographs, taken in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., show us different views of these spaces as they are reflected in the eyes of house and ball members who perform what they wish these cities could be." – Gerard H. Gaskin

A color digital image portrait of Justin captured at the Unity Human Rights Ball in New York City in November 2016. Justin is pictured standing against a grey background, wearing a purple, short-sleeved hooded dashiki. The dashiki has a black zipper at the center, which is surrounded by strips of black fabric on each side. The center portion of the garment has orange, red, and yellow printed designs and the outermost pattern of the central design is electric blue, pink, yellow, black, and white. The sleeves and bottom hem have a black and gold trim. Justin’s hands are in his pockets, which also have multi-colored designs. There is a purple wristband on his proper right wrist. His head is tilted to the right and he looks directly at the camera.