Belle Époque

Cero Collective is honored to present a commissioned series by Béni Masiala, the 26-year-old Congolese-English artist who is the recipient of our inaugural photography grant. Selected by a panel of industry experts including Campbell Addy, photographer and filmmaker; Jae Choi, founder and managing director of The Collective Shift; Sarah-Louise Colivet, senior producer at Art Partner; Lauren Panzo, vice president of Pace Gallery; and Matt Tsang, creative director at David Zwirner, Masiala was chosen for his vision, his eye for composition, and his unique voice. Speaking with Masiala, he recalls some of the pivotal moments in his life that inform his creativity and inspired his direction for this project, from his background in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to his artistic evolution in London.

LATE NINETIES, CONGO

Masiala's mother was a clothing vendor, and he developed an affinity for style early on. "She used to sell Armani suits, Prada. She loves fashion, absolutely loves it," he recalls. That particular sensibility for making an impression has carried him through his career. He affirms that "the way you dress matters. If you dress really nice, people remember."

LATE AUGHTS AND EARLY 2010S, LONDON

Masiala's father gave him his old film camera. Photographing his friends on warm nights out in the summer, it was then, as a teenager and in the heyday of Tumblr, that Masiala saw himself as an artist. "I started posting when, back then, Tumblr was the place to see art," he recalls. "It was a cool platform to post your art as well."

2013, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, HOLBORN, LONDON

Masiala found fulfillment in his practical photography courses studying creative media. Printing in the darkroom by the light of a red safety bulb, the stink of developing chemicals lingering, it's a craft that takes patience to keep going.

2014, THE SHOPS, HACKNEY, EAST LONDON

Once self-identifying as a "Prada boy," Masiala was perusing the shopping district when one fateful day he had a chance meeting with stylist and fashion director David Bradshaw. Despite Bradshaw being taken by young Masiala's style, Masiala admits to not thinking much of Bradshaw, confessing he didn't know who he was when they first met. "But then we spoke for hours," he says, "just sitting in a shop." Under Bradshaw's wing, Masiala began assisting on shoots and the two have since become good friends. "I was new and he looked after me," the latter recalls.

LATE 2021, A LIBRARY SOMEWHERE ON THE STRAND, CENTRAL LONDON

Illustrator, tattoo artist, and eventual collaborator Auden Woodall recognized Masiala from his shoots and campaigns and approached him. The two spoke about their art and Woodall agreed to tattoo Masiala. In conceptualizing his vision for this story, Masiala reached out to Woodall for black-and-white illustrations to complement his shoot. The former remarks, "I didn't want it to be exactly how Victorian flower diagrams look like. I wanted him to reference them."

MARCH 2022, PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK, UK

Masiala notes that shock value in fashion and art isn't as easy to come by now as it used to be. "A lot of things have been done," he says. "[I'm] thinking about different ways of telling stories abstractly. I feel like that's how a lot of my stories are." Masiala's story for Cero Magazine was conceived in the image of a Belle Époque, or a 'beautiful age,' and offers a transformed understanding of how fashion and form can evolve. Working with stylist Matilda Sadeghi, Masiala explains, "Fashion is all about doing extraordinary things that haven't been seen before. That's what I want to bring back." The results are cinematic photographs washed with cool sunlight—the model Elvina Patrick, dressed in Loewe and Acne Studios, poses against the Peak District National Park's desert backdrop.

MOST SUNDAYS, AT HOME IN LONDON

Along with his sisters, Masiala sits down to a traditional roast dinner. "I feel like I've got a lot of new ideas that I could bring to the industry, so I want to put these ideas out there," he says. He desires to work patiently to find the right feeling, moving forward with faith—after all, with risk comes reward.

Your support is critical to our nonprofit Cero Collective's efforts to educate and inspire artists through initiatives like this photography grant. Click here to donate to allow us to expand our programs and continue our mission to champion creativity in all its forms. Read this story and many more in print by ordering CERO04 here.