Boy.brother.friend

Together with Between Bridges, we are so much looking forward to celebrating with you all the launch of the fifth issue of Boy.Brother.Friend (BBF) – with music, drinks and food for our souls. 

Ceremony explores the various rituals that give structure to our lives and fuel our creativity. Conceived as a platform upon which masculine identities can be explored through an intersectional lens, BBF brings together leading international voices in art, fashion and culture. Each season, founder and creative director KK Obi and his diverse team of collaborators present their vision of a creative network that is truly global.

Powerful connections are made between Europe and West Africa throughout the issue. A new series of photographs by epochal German artist and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans is published exclusively in BBF. Taken during a recent West African exhibition tour, the images are a testament to Tillmans’ enduring ability to capture the extraordinary in the everyday, as well as to the power of black exuberance. Rising singer-songwriter Obongjayar discusses his own vital rituals around making and performing music, as well as musing on his experiences living between Nigeria and Europe. A special feature produced in partnership with Burberry sees the curator and critic Antwaun Sargent interviewed by Vanessa Peterson on his exhibition and accompanying book, „The New Black Vanguard’, currently on display at the Saatchi Gallery. The three aforementioned features each appear on special covers, along with two further print covers, which include images by Winter Van Den Brink and Zhong Lin. An additional exclusive digital cover features a portrait by photographer James Tennessee Briandt, taken at the Ye-Yee-Ye Parade in Accra, Ghana. The parade is a community celebration in which some men take part in crossdressing, stepping into a bold form of expression in the process. As ever, BBF’s Ceremony issue includes numerous fashion stories produced by its extended family of creatives and featuring the latest collections, alongside a broad range of essays, creative writing and interviews.