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?UESTIONS: Denisse Ariana Pérez

Photographer, author and copywriter, Denisse Ariana Pérez. Caribbean-born, Copenhagen-based, Denisse has a special way with people, words and imagery. Her art redefines negative representations and puts a spotlight on the vulnerabilities and warmth of her subjects.

How has your own environment and background influenced the photos that you take? 

I grew up in a culture that did not celebrate blackness or queer culture at all. I constantly feel that my work is the byproduct of my inner child attempting to write love letters to all those things I wished I had seen being celebrated, that I saw as beautiful, like my father's dark skin and my brothers' vulnerability. 

Your photography tells a story -how do you make a connection with people?

I approach people as a person first, not as a photographer. My camera becomes secondary. Building a sense of trust is the most important element in the photographic process for me. I wouldn't be able to build a space of intimacy if I didn't build some trust with my subjects to begin with.


Trust goes beyond language, a lot of times I don't speak the same language as my subjects and in those cases I need to rely on either a local translator, my broken version of their language or plain body language. Trust for me is more of a sometimes silent, mutual agreement of recognition and empathy between the person in front of you and yourself. That is the most basic foundation for me to make a connection with people. 

What are the messages you wish to represent?  

I want to capture people in the most beautiful and dignified way I possibly can. I want to highlight beauty even when telling a harsher story. 

What drives your passion in photography?

An obsession with human beings, with community, with skin, with nature and with "underdogs." 

What impact do aim to make on the world?

I want to change narratives around marginalized communities. I want to blend art and awareness creation. 



All photos by and courtesy of Denisse Ariana Perez

?UESTIONS: Boog Brown

Soulful, calm and deadly, Boog Brown has a rawness that cannot be imitated. 


Down with the art of rhyming, she embodies the energy of the hip hop golden era. Suave and sophisticated yet packed with punchlines, Boog Brown poetically showcases her skills.

Boog Brown is an amazing name, can you tell us how this name came about?

Well friends used to call me El Boogie in college. Once I started rapping, one of my poet homies was like "you should call yourself 'Boog Brown' and it stuck.


As well as an emcee, you are a poet and writer, where does your inspiration come from?

The inspiration to write comes from being alive. This journey we are on is never not magical, we just need to know how to wield our own individual magic, it can sometimes be a challenge. It can seem dark but there can never be dark without light.


Can you share with us some titles of your written work?

The first book, a chap book of poetry called "Swimming against the Current State of Mind." I thought I was so clever, lol! I just was thinking differently or so I thought. Then"Black Tie Fish Fry" was when I was obsessed with duality and how much we code switch in just about everything we do as black people in America.


What is on your mind right now?

On my mind right now? Is figuring how to untie this knot of eurocentric thinking in ways that don't serve or value us in order for us to unify.


What impact do you wish to have on the world?

I pray that I am of good service to my family, my supporters and the ones who walked before me in my lineage.




C*LTURE: Gil Scott-Heron


Inspirational poet, musician, songwriter and novelist, Gil Scott-Heron.


Born in Chicago,1949, Gil Scott-Heron became a social and political messenger of the 1970s and 80s. His lyrical content focused on the turbulence and uncertainty of the times, he was committed to the liberation of Black people. 


Gil’s own term for himself was "bluesologist", he would define this as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues."His vocals are a combination of a rapping and melismatic style, which can be described as a chant like vocal. Many considered him to be the first rapper/MC ever.


Aged 13, he had written his first collection of poems, by 19 he had published his first novel, The Vulture; which themes include the devastating effects of drugs on urban black life. His second novel, The Nigger Factory is a statement on the way in which human beings are conditioned to think.


Gil has released more than 15 albums. In 1970 he released his first album, New Black Poet Small Talk at 125th and Lennox, then Pieces of Man (1971), Free Will (1972) and Winter in America (1974). The albums include legendary works such as “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” “Lady Day and John Coltrane,” and “Whitey on the Moon.”


Gil passed in 2011 and will be remembered as a phenomenal street poet, community leader and political voice for the struggles of Black people in America. 

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