“My hair defines all my performance in the world; it’s all that I am. And as my ancestry teaches, hair represents life, so braiding my own strands reconnects me to the earth all the time.” —Afro-Brazilian sculptor and hairstylist Janice Mascarenhas (@janicemascarenhass) ⁣ ⁣ Janice grew up in a Rio de Janeiro favela and was raised in beauty salons where her mother worked as a manicurist. “I learned that hair was a means of financial survival and ancestral reunion for Black bodies,” says Janice, who now lives in São Paulo. “I believe that Black hair and aesthetics is a narrative that connects Black people throughout the world.” ⁣ ⁣ “In Rio de Janeiro I saw and experienced so many things. It’s as if anything could happen in that city. I love my beautiful journey through the alleys of the slum, as a resident and then suddenly in places where people have means, but in a servile role. This drove me on; I wanted to achieve everything. Cariocas always want everything. Cariocas can certainly be anything.” ⁣ ⁣ Video by @janicemascarenhass

Musician and dancer Mikayla Geier (@mikaylageier) loves to create. “Connecting with others through art is what drives me every day,” says the 22-year-old. “Dance doesn’t always have to be so serious. I love to keep it lighthearted and fun by posting videos where I mess up a little bit sometimes.” Mikayla says that when she was younger, she strived for perfection. “I used to feel really insecure about my body. When I was studying ballet in high school I was told to lose weight, and I started struggling with anorexia. I had to stop dancing to go through recovery, which was devastating for me at the time,” she says. “It took me three years to find the courage to come back to dance,” says Mikayla, who discovered songwriting as an artistic outlet during her break. “Returning on my own terms in a healthy body taught me how to do things for myself instead of always trying to please others. I’ve also become a lot more confident as a person, which shows up in my dancing.” 💃🏻😊💃🏻😊💃🏻😊 Reel of @mikaylageier by @spencerdbowman Choreography by @koo.jaemo Music by @dojacat

Kai-Isaiah Jamal (@kai_isaiah_jamal) is a spoken word poet, writer, model and trans visibility activist who draws on their own personal experiences as a trans person of color to speak their truth and give visibility to their community. ⁣ ⁣ “Transness is so complex, I question if I will ever arrive at a state of complete celebration of the body without also the dysphoric elements that come with it,” says Kai-Isaiah. “I had to learn that my transness was a part of me that didn’t render my body wrong, just different, and that actually in that difference I would find a whole community who connect, accept and uplift based on differences and nuanced identity.” ⁣ ⁣ Kai-Isaiah says their work aims to dismantle a multitude of things: “To shake up the literature sphere so people like myself have somewhere to exist and versions or mirrors of ourselves; it also celebrates all of us who sit unseen on the sidelines for too long. ⁣ ⁣ So much of what we do and who we are and why our existence is so important is because we can implement change, whether on a personal or global scale. Telling your story is a huge part of proving your existence, and sometimes just being visibly yourself helps in freeing others.” ⁣ ⁣ Photo by @kai_isaiah_jamal