episode 3: Isaac
(he/him)
Isaac’s Studio - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)
Left: Image of Isaac Courtesy of Isaac. Right: Isaac's Studio - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025).“Ever since I was a little boy, I would sketch and daydream…
And in my high school yearbook I wrote that I wanted to be a fashion designer.”
“I’ve worked pretty much with every major network - CBS, NBC, Netflix, Marvel. I was one of the tailors on Black Panther, the first movie.”
Images of Isaac's Studio - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)“I think out of all the shows I’ve done, Black Panther was most rewarding because to me, that was part of history, that was a historical event. And my name was in the credits. So I go down in history with that.”
“When I realized I was gay, I didn’t try to front or fake.
There’s a cost for that. There’s a cost that comes with being your authentic self.”
Images of Young Isaac - Courtesy of Isaac“I always knew - by the age of maybe eleven, twelve, I knew I was different.”
“Back in the day, if you saw gay people on television, it was comedy. They were stereotypical and they were there to be a joke - something to be laughed at, nothing to be taken seriously.”
“It’s hard because you’re in a place where everything tells you this is wrong. Your family says this is wrong. The church says this is wrong. The school - everything in your environment. It’s not like it is today.”
Left: Image Courtesy of The Atlanta LGBTQ+ Context Statement (2023). Right: Isaac's Home - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)
“In the early nineties, you would see someone and they look healthy and then six months later, they look like they’re dying. And then before you know it, they’re dead.”
African American Lesbian Gay Alliance (1988). Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center“When I first moved to Atlanta, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Atlanta’s like the Black Mecca of the gay life… Just like the Black community we are diverse. And sometimes people have a tendency to try and put us in a box. We are an array. We are a variety of people.”
Left: “Dance floor of Traxx, 1999.” Middle: “Neon sign of the exterior of Loretta’s 1989.” Right: “Western Exterior of Backstreet facing Peachtree Street during Pride circa 2002.” Images Courtesy of The Atlanta LGBTQ+ Context Statement (2023)
