Leslie Kee discusses “Queer Black & Loved” series, presented by The Norm Queer Agency x AKAA, a celebration to Black LGBTQ+ culture starring Billy Porter, along with his creative process and the importance of listening to young queer voices.
Born in Singapore and graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Leslie Kee has spent over two decades shaping the visual world of fashion, art, and celebrity photography. Based in Tokyo and New York, the photographer and film director’s work has been featured in iconic publications like Vogue Taiwan and has starred in collaborations with global stars such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Famous for his bold and expressive style, Kee’s “Super Magazine” series pushes creative boundaries by intertwining fashion with cultural commentary, often working with fashion brands like Giorgio Armani, Dsquared2, Lacoste, and Uniqlo. His long-standing position creating the main visuals and short films for Yohji Yamamoto’s runways in Paris solidified his position as a visionary in the fashion world.
We caught up with Leslie Kee to dive deep into his latest project, Queer Black & Loved, which celebrates Black LGBTQ+ culture through powerful imagery. Kee tells us about his creative process, his collaboration with Billy Porter as the star of this series, and the importance of amplifying queer voices in the art world. His passion for celebrating diversity is reassembled in his latest work, offering an artistic and social lens on the importance of love and identity in the LGBTQ+ community.
In “Queer Black & Loved,” you’re showcasing Black LGBTQ+ culture. How did you capture both queer identity and black heritage in your photos?
My idea and concept in expressing my vision of “Queer Identity” and “Black Heritage” evolved from the contrast of Rainbow color blooming from the color of Black. I assigned my stylist to assemble a wide range of vivid color wardrobes for this series of portrait shoots and selected the matching tone for each of the backgrounds to emphasize the power of the vivid color in each image. Each complete portrait is genuinely fragranced with a scent of Love.
Billy Porter is such a powerful figure in the queer community. What was it like working with him, and was there a specific moment that shaped how the photos turned out?
Besides fashion and advertisements, I have also been photographing official billboard images for theatrical musicals in the last 2 decades, and one of the big titles was “Kinky Boots”. I have always been interested by the works of Billy Porter, even before he was awarded as the first Black Queer performer to win the Tony Awards. Billy has always been one of the most important and powerful LGBTQ+ celebrities in Hollywood who always embrace the queer culture genuinely through his words and performances.
I flew my team to New York with almost 100 pieces of Issey Miyake collections, to collaborate on this big photoshoot with Billy Porter. I had a blast photographing Billy, capturing his spectacular movements and expressions, achieving a series of fashion images like a world of kaleidoscope with love and power. The experience of working with Billy felt like being invited to the “Billy in Wonderland” where he never stopped singing, dancing, and giving magic to the camera.
Your photography often conveys powerful messages. What was the most important story or message you wanted to communicate through this series in “Queer Black & Loved”?
I started to be involved as an LGBTQ+ activist when I was living in New York from the year 2000, shortly after I debuted as a photographer in 1998. There were almost not many efficient platforms in Asia back in the 90s, and I have always been inspired by how artists, musicians, fashion designers, filmmakers, and photographers in the West wisely use their voices to bring awareness of LGBTQ+ to society in different generations of time.
Living in New York for 12 years gave me the opportunity to publish my own media to express my opinions of Queer culture in an artistic way. I started to launch Super Magazine in 2003 when I was in New York and began to work with the Black Queer community in many collaborations of fashion editorials. “POSE” the FX series starring Billy Porter has been such an inspiration for myself in creating this series of images with Billy. The important message I wish to convey in this series of Billy Porter portraits is to be “Fearless to express to the Infinity of Love” — like how I capture Billy Porter through his gracious dance and artistic poses.
With LGBTQ+ rights still being a big issue in many African countries, what do you hope young queer people will feel when they see your work?
I have traveled to Africa a few times since 2000, for some of my work assignments and personal work. The existence of queer communities in the Africa region has grown larger over these two decades, however, the acceptance of LGBTQ+ in the society of Africa is still very ambiguous, especially in the rural area. I hope that my works can motivate and inspire young queer people to keep believing that their voices will be heard, and their stories will be told, as long as they do not give up joining their hearts together, and embrace their own identities and strive graciously towards their dreams.
You’ve worked on many high-profile projects. How does this series stand out for you personally as an artist?
My works are mostly highlighted by the portraits of celebrities and fashion images of supermodels featuring luxury brands. For most of these works, they are more commercial-oriented than my personal works.
As an artist, I always feel extremely excited when I participate in projects that can bring awareness to diversity and inclusion, especially LGBTQ+ issues. I am thrilled to be invited to showcase my works for this AKAA Fair. As I have always been very interested in the art and culture of Africa, this is a very rare opportunity for me to connect to a bigger community of African queer artists. I am looking forward to visiting the booths of all participating artists in this project.
Is there anybody you haven’t worked with yet that you would like to?
This is always a never-ending question for myself in regard to who else do I like to work with. Too many to list up, but definitely, I dream to photograph Oprah Winfrey, Bjork, and Barbra Streisand, who have been great inspirations for myself as an artist.
Finally, what does “fucking young” mean to you?
First and foremost, I have been collecting “Fucking Young” magazines since the first launched issue in 2012. I am very delighted to be invited to do this interview. My first impression was that this title is extremely brilliant and catchy, probably the most daring title for any magazine ever published in the world.
“Fucking Young” means the eternal spirit of being youthful, playful, joyful, alive, fearless, creative, innovative, sexy, edgy, and most importantly being timeless in expressing my love and respect for humanity as an artist.