The Legacy Series

The Legacy Series is a photographic exploration of queer heritage, grief, and creative lineage. In my late great-uncle’s untouched, opulent home, I merge archival fashion, portraiture, and personal artifacts- blurring past and present to connect with him.

The Legacy Series

The Legacy Series is a photographic exploration of queer heritage, grief, and creative lineage. This project emerged from losing my great-uncle, David Hayes - a renowned yet forgotten fashion designer and a gay man who navigated the contradictions of success and silence during the 1980s. He witnessed the HIV/AIDS epidemic devastate his community, losing friends and collaborators while navigating an industry built on spectacle and discretion.

After he passed, I found myself going through boxes of photographs, letters, and keepsakes - fragments of a life that was both glamorous and profoundly shaped by loss. Among them were thank-you notes from Nancy Reagan, stacked beside letters from friends who had died of AIDS-related illnesses. The contrast showed me the complexity of his world - a man who moved effortlessly through high society yet carried the weight of an erased generation. I felt an overwhelming regret for the conversations we never had; the history left unspoken. To process that grief, I turned to the one thing we both understood - creativity. Through photography, I tried to have those missing conversations to understand the full scope of his life better.

In his lush, secluded Beverly Hills home, I styled and photographed actors, artists, models, and my mother in his archival designs - pieces once worn by Zsa Zsa Gabor, Audrey Hepburn, and Liza Minnelli. I restaged an era I had always admired but with a louder, queerer presence - one that he, despite all his success, was never fully allowed to embrace. The staged portraiture in this series mirrors the ghosts of the past, merging young Hollywood with old Hollywood opulence, creating a charged space where memory and reinvention collide.

This series is a dialogue across time, exploring identity, longing, and the artistic journey through a queer lens. It reflects how grief can become a creative expression, how photography can reclaim a legacy, and how queer figures - past and present - remain in quiet conversation. The Legacy Series is not just a tribute; it’s a testament to the presence of queer ancestors in today’s LGBTQ+ experience.

In an era of rapid digital archiving and fleeting virality, The Legacy Series asks: Who gets remembered? Who gets erased? How do we ensure queer histories aren't just preserved but actively reshaped? By submitting this work for the PhMuseum Photography Grant, I aim to expand its reach through exhibitions, publication and continued archival exploration.