For the past 12 months, photographer Myla Faith Thomas has been photographing burlesque performers globally in an effort to examine how the art form functions as a space for self-invention, resistance, and radical visibility. What began as a portrait study of the UK scene has expanded into a broader exploration of contemporary burlesque culture and an internal investigation of the body, confidence and sensuality.
Working collaboratively with dancers, Myla creates stylised yet intimate portraits that blur fashion, documentary, and surrealism. The project centres those often pushed to the margins of mainstream aesthetics, queer, disabled, working-class, POC, and plus-sized performers, celebrating the ways they reclaim authorship over their bodies through costume, character, and performance.
Shot in personal spaces, dressing rooms, and independent venues, the images reveal the emotional and physical labour that goes into transformation. The series, with images already shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and the Portrait of Britain Award, is now evolving into a book and exhibition accompanied by moving-image works that deepen its narrative.
Thomas’s perspective as a mixed Black-Arab woman shapes the project’s emphasis on representation, agency and the intimacy of performance. Burlesque in Britain is not simply documentation; it’s a portrait of a community rewriting who gets to be desired, powerful, and seen.
Photography: Myla Faith @mylasvisuals
mylasvisuals.co.uk
Burlesque Performers/Models:
Fleur De’Vil Instagram @fleur.de.vil
Alexandria St Payne Instagram: @alexandriasaintpayne
Ruby St James Instagram: @callmerubystjames
Ezme Pump Instagram: @ezmepump
Juliet Peaches Instagram @julietpeaches_
Cici Noir Instagram: @cici_noir
Harley Phoenix Instagram: @harleyphoenixofficial
