SHAEDE: A Bold Photography Series Featuring Dylan “Shaede” Hoskins

A Portrait of Strength, Fluidity, and Truth

SHAEDE is a deeply personal portrait series featuring Dylan "Shaede" Hoskins — a proud Blak & Queer person whose story embodies resilience, softness, power, and complexity. This project honours Dylan’s lived experience as a person navigating the intersections of culture, gender, and identity, while boldly disrupting colonial narratives about who we’re allowed to be.

SHAEDE is not just a visual celebration — it’s a reclamation.

One Story, Many Layers

Through this series, we explored what it means to exist at the intersection of Blakness and queerness, not in fragments, but as a whole and sovereign self. Dylan invited us into his world with openness and fierce authenticity. What followed was a portrait session shaped by care, trust, and truth-telling.

These are not studio poses. These are sacred expressions. From gentle vulnerability to sharp defiance, each image reflects a different facet of Dylan’s identity, unapologetically.

Created with Cultural Safety and Respect

SHAEDE was created in collaboration with Dylan, not just as a subject, but as a co-author of the work. Every decision, from location and styling to the emotional tone, was guided with him. Cultural safety wasn’t an afterthought. It was the foundation.

This was a space where Dylan didn’t need to explain or justify himself. He led, and we followed.

Blak & Queer Representation Matters

Too often, Blak & Queer people are pushed to the margins, both within our own communities and in broader society. SHAEDE offers another narrative: one that is proud, poetic, and powerful.

This series holds space for the beauty and tension of living at this intersection. It’s about visibility, yes, but also about control over that visibility. About how we choose to be seen.

A Quiet Act of Protest

SHAEDE isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. It’s a protest in its stillness in Dylan’s gaze, in his presence, in his refusal to be anything other than himself.

Photography has long been used to define us from the outside. SHAEDE flips that. This is what visual sovereignty looks like.

Explore the Series

Scroll through the series below and sit with each image. Witness Dylan not as a subject, but as a storyteller. His presence is the story. His body is a site of power. His identity, a ripple.

If you’d like to exhibit this work, host a community conversation or artist Q&A with Dylan, or support further Blak & Queer storytelling projects, reach out here.