PHOTOGRAPHY & ARTISTIC DIRECTION Loïc Rodrigues
STYLING & ARTISTIC DIRECTION Liam Derouiche
HAIR Vasso Stathopoulou
MUA Swan Arnaud
MOVEMENT DIRECTION Valentin Beaufils
STYLING ASSISTANT Corneille Vimpy
MODEL & POET Coco Labbee
A single reckoning transformed the way I perceive beauty and the way it speaks back at me.
Being still a child, I was forced to wear a symbol of liberation.
I wasn’t ready to embody such a responsibility.
I kept ruminating, why me?
A powerful emblem became a prison.
With my hair gone, the world’s gaze shifted.
The stares turned into intimidation,
While carrying the weight of what was gone;
A crown, a frame to femininity, to someone’s identity.
I hid for years not knowing how to canalize the light growing in my cell,
Just to realize those walls were my own creation.
This whole time, nobody was guarding the door,
I was keeping myself on the floor.
Beauty was sleeping besides me,
Waiting to be seen, felt and embodied.
By becoming a muse, I learned to see through lenses,
Those that do not distort but reveal.
I began to glimpse myself anew,
A being not defined by loss,
But by resilience and grace.
Art became the bridge to my younger self,
The child who danced in golden dreams,
Who saw the world not as a mirror,
But as a canvas to express her truth.
Through every captured moment
Was reclaimed the parts that once hid in shadow.
Today, I wear my story not as a burden
But as a testament to the beauty of becoming.
Enjoyed this story? Help keep independent queer-led publishing alive and unlock the BRICKS Learner Platform, full of resources for emerging and aspiring creatives sent to you every week via newsletter. Start your 30-day free trial now.