Akila Berjaoui x Human NYC

all images via Akila Berjaoui

Starting tomorrow, a collaboration of epicly rad proportions will be on display at the Human NYC Gallery in Brooklyn. If you're in town you will not want to miss this.

You know those people in your life that everything they do is just cool beyond belief? You secretly hope that maybe, somehow in this universal connectedness of the human race, you may actually share one similar genetic compound thus vibing off their radiating radness?

Well for me, that's my two friends and overall badass humans Rachael Yaeger and Jill Borenstein, creators of Human NYC. Since I met these babes years ago in our glory days at Flagler College, I have known that whatever the hell they touched would turn to pure gold. From music to art to fashion these girls know whats up. They're my go to for that much needed, refreshing dose of "don't give a fuck -- just be you," inspiring, raw creativity. 

So when Rach told me about their collab with Sydney based photographer and ultimate capturer of  feminine splendor, Akila Bejaoui, I think I may have drooled a little. Through a nostalgic lens, Akila makes current the sensationalism of natural beauty that has been lost in an era of airbrushing and augmentation. I love how she describes her work:

“…I want to provoke with my photography and have it presented in a natural way. intimate. A little daring, provocative. real. Human. Think French cinema where women have always been represented as equals. What I do is a form of expression. I am privileged to be able to tell stories through images. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

As her first solo gallery exhibition in NYC with Billabong as a partner, “You better get out of the sun before you melt” Gidget 1959, features an assortment of Akila’s work over the past year shot all over the globe, including Italy, Norway, Dubrovnik, Sydney & Morocco. 

Congratulations to all the amazing women involved with this project -- wish I could be there to see it come to life. xxx

For more on the event click here.