BLACK PEPPA x MATT FORD
Grace Jones: An Homage by Black Peppa and Matt Ford
Black Peppa, a drag queen from St. Maarten and a finalist on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 4, fuses klubkid energy, punk, fetish, and glamour with Caribbean flair and futurist twists. Trained in science but drawn to the arts. Performing, costume design, photography, and poetry, Peppa brings precision and creativity to every performance.
Matt Ford is a London-based portrait photographer and artist who transforms queer personalities into surreal, larger-than-life visions. He and Peppa first connected on Peppa’s iconic Drag Race UK entrance look and reunited three years later to pay homage to Grace JoneS. Blending high-concept drag, fashion, and experimental photography into a single explosive vision.
What first drew you to Grace Jones as a figure of inspiration?
Peppa: Grace Jones is my biggest inspiration. She was told her dark skin, angular features, and bold presence were unmarketable—but she shattered stereotypes and rewrote beauty standards. I first saw her at 12, in a film on Boomerang with Eddie Murphy, exuding confidence and charisma. Later, seeing her in Vamp, I became obsessed. As a gay teen never fully accepted, Grace’s fearless presence showed me I could define my own path.
“Modeling in England, I faced rejection for “strong” features or “wrong” body shape—mirroring Grace’s experience.”
Watching her videos around the America’s Next Top Model era, I realised she was from Spanish Town, Jamaica (like my parents) and raised in a strict Pentecostal household. Her rebellion mirrored my own desires for freedom: dressing in my mom’s church clothes, experimenting with wigs and makeup, sneaking out to underground gay clubs. Seeing someone who looked like me succeed made me feel that I could too.
How has her presence shaped you personally and artistically?
Peppa: Like Grace, I had to migrate to grow into my authentic self. Her sass in interviews, confidence under scrutiny, and fearless presence inspired me to leave the Caribbean for bigger opportunities. Her fashion and aura became my blueprint.
My rebellion manifested early, and I learned to hold my ground, embrace my beauty, and pursue authenticity.
In what ways does Grace influence your drag and aesthetic today?
Peppa: My drag aesthetic blends 90s supermodel inspiration with Grace’s unique poses, studied and mimicked over years. Her music versatility (reggae, disco, pop, new wave) inspires my artistic freedom. Her outfits were high-fashion art installations using her body as a vessel; I even dressed as her for the Drag Race UK Season 4 Tour as Vamp. Grace didn’t just break rules; she made them, and that’s what makes her an icon.
DIGITAL BACKGROUND CREATED BY JORDAN WILLIAMS.
The Aim of the Shoot
Matt: Peppa and I set out to pay homage to Grace Jones and Jean-Paul Goude. I studied Goude’s “French Correction” techniques. Exaggerated proportions and collage and reinterpreted them with in-camera techniques, experimental fashion, coloured gels, and digital manipulation. We also discussed AI in photography and the line between inspiration and theft. Pushing perception is at the core of my practice.
COLLAGE FROM PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER
Peppa: Iconic images like Grace balancing on one leg, near-nude with a microphone, or in the black blazer with a cigarette, stayed with me from childhood. We wanted to honor that artistry respectfully while giving it a modern twist. Goude highlighted Grace’s jawbones, legs, and arms; Matt extended this physically by printing and slicing images to exaggerate and elongate her features, blending old-school techniques with modern photography and digital editing.