136 in coping with the suicide of his polysexual brother, Thierry embarked on a nother long-term series, which he called Opulence (initially subtitled Black Queer Diaspora in the Netherlands). It began as a visual research project in collaboration with cultural anthropologist Wigbertson Julian Isenia (University of Amsterdam) about gender and sexuality. Now working on his own, Opulence grew into a deep dive into the underground Ballroom cultures across Europe. In 2013 Thierry met Amber Vineyard who had begun to organise her first Ballroom events. Thierry felt that he could contribute to the visibility and the self-worth of this scene through his photography. Phonecalls he had had with his brother across the Atlantic had ‘laid the foundation for my quest into his presence in the queer community.’ His brother saw Thierry as a role model, as the one who broke away from the toxic environment back home, ‘making it in Europe as a photographer.’
TALENT Thierry considers Opulence to be an ode to his late brother and everyone else of Afro-Caribbean descent, many of whom are not yet free to live and express their sexuality to the fullest. Homosexuality is still strongly stigmatised within the Caribbean community, while in the Netherlands black people from the former colonies and the Caribbean islands are still being racialised and objectified. With Opulence Thierry seeks ‘to break away from this dichotomy by portraying my subjects in unadorned yet graceful portraits.’ In his search for what he calls ‘an area of tension between the portrayed and the spectator,’ within a force field of ‘pride and resilience,’ which he seeks to approach respectfully and with dignity, Thierry has found his way of continuing the ‘mad art’ of portraiture, as simple and complex, and as obvious and profound. — Text by Taco Hidde Bakker
This portfolio includes images from the series Opulence, Dreaming above the Atlantic and Something New under the Sun, now grouped under the title Morse. All images © Dustin Thierry, courtesy of the artist DUSTIN THIERRY (b. 1985, CW/NL) is a self-taught photographer focusing on projects concerning African Caribbean identity. The issues Dustin addresses in his work are often as personal as they are social. He tries to capture moments of stillness for reflection, his portraits being intimate encounters leaving the beholder with all the mental space needed to tickle their imagination. Dustin believes that every image comes into its own when given the time and attention it deserves. Dustin lives and works in Amsterdam. TACO HIDDE BAKKER is a writer, translator, and researcher whose work reflects on many topics, as seen through the prisms of photography, (documentary) film and the visual arts. His essays, reviews and other writings are to be found in various artist’s books and in international magazines as Camera Austria International, EXTRA, The PhotoBook Review, and British Journal of Photography. Taco’s first essay collection, The Photograph That Took the Place of a Mountain, was published by Fw:Books in 2018.