Heavenly Bodies: Notes on Fola Francis is Temiloluwa Johnson’s visual elegy to one of Nigeria’s most radiant queer cultural liturgies: the Lagos Pride ballroom, whose 2024 edition was renamed eponymously to honor the late Fola Francis, revered trans icon and ballroom “Mother.” Fola’s blazing presence — brimming with desire, bravado, and irrepressible joy — once galvanized stages across Lagos. This project vividly salutes her legacy, lived boldly and unapologetically.
Set amid the kinetic spectacle of one of Nigeria’s largest ballroom events, Temiloluwa’s photographic narrative enacts the fluidity, grit, and grace of queer embodiment in motion. From the pre-show drag extravaganza to the commanding main walk categories — Face, Realness, Sex Siren, Vogue Femme — the work renders bodies as lived poetry, insurgent protest, and commanding presence.
Heavenly Bodies: Notes on Fola Francis is Temiloluwa Johnson’s visual elegy to one of Nigeria’s most radiant queer cultural liturgies: the Lagos Pride ballroom, whose 2024 edition was renamed eponymously to honor the late Fola Francis, revered trans icon and ballroom “Mother.” Fola’s blazing presence — brimming with desire, bravado, and irrepressible joy — once galvanized stages across Lagos. This project vividly salutes her legacy, lived boldly and unapologetically.
Set amid the kinetic spectacle of one of Nigeria’s largest ballroom events, Temiloluwa’s photographic narrative enacts the fluidity, grit, and grace of queer embodiment in motion. From the pre-show drag extravaganza to the commanding main walk categories — Face, Realness, Sex Siren, Vogue Femme — the work renders bodies as lived poetry, insurgent protest, and commanding presence.
