$58.27
- Hardcover
- 168 pages
- 80 illustrations
- 247 x 313 mm
- ISBN 9788862087926
- English
- 2023
In 'ONYX', photographer Adrienne Raquel explores the intensity and escapism of the nightclub experience, documenting the power of the performers at Houston’s famed Club Onyx. Raquel’s photography is usually editorial, with high-power celebrities as her subjects. Her work has broken glass ceilings for Black female photographers. Now, for this passion project commissioned and exhibited at Fotografiska New York in 2021, she has turned her lens towards a community of underrepresented artists in her hometown. At Club Onyx, strippers step on stage displaying their bodies, strength, and seduction, but there’s a virtue to this particular space. “They don’t get naked” is a common idiom to describe the club’s ambiance. Performers there take the word “stripper,” and negotiate what that means to them, on their own terms. From powerful images of the dancers mid-movement to detailed shots and intimate portraits, Raquel’s striking images put the divine beauty and compelling energy that enlivens Houston’s nightlife on full display. She also takes viewers behind the scenes, giving us a window into the community the dancers have built in the privacy of the locker room.
Photographed over the course of 2020, 'ONYX' displays the empowerment and inclusivity in strip clubs that society has ignored. As captured by Raquel, the night club experience is revealed with layered meaning — granting the chance for these performers to be seen as elevated as the culture they influence.
Adrienne Raquel is a Texas raised image-maker and art director working between Houston, New York and Los Angeles. Exhibitions include Mickalene Thomas' Better Nights at Miami's Bass Museum and Aperture's New Black Vanguard. Adrienne's first solo exhibition, 'Onyx', was on view at Fotografiska New York in 2021. Clients include Apple, Savage x Fenty, Pat McGrath Labs, YSL Beaute, Dior, Bacardi, Rare Beauty, Bacardi, Amazon, Nike, Beats By Dre as well as covers of 'Vanity Fair', 'V Magazine', 'GQ', 'Numero Berlin' and 'Interview Magazine'.
