Em and Lytcia

Visibility is rarely simple, especially when the world only sees what it wants to see.

Em and Lytcia are both Black, queer, lesbian women living in Brussels. They are partners, lovers, and individuals engaged in polyamorous relationships. Their identities are open, unapologetic, and nuanced, but that doesn’t mean society meets them with understanding.

Despite living out loud, they are constantly misread. Reduced. Simplified. To many, they are seen merely as Black cis women, their queerness flattened, their complexities erased. For Em, this erasure is amplified by her personal story. Adopted and raised by an entirely white family, she is sometimes labeled a "bounty," a hurtful term that questions her authenticity based on proximity to whiteness.

This discomfort with fixed definitions, this constant othering, is something Lytcia responds to through style. Fashion becomes language, a quiet but sharp articulation of her non-binary identity. Through her clothing, she rejects society’s narrow gaze and reclaims her own visibility on her own terms.

Even as they move through the world visibly queer, Em and Lytcia face a more subtle invisibility within their own circles. Their relationship exists, but it’s rarely named. There’s no hostility, but no real dialogue either. No confrontation, but also no recognition. In both their families, silence hovers. The lack of conversation leaves space for questions, distance, and the weight of the unspoken.

How are they perceived by those closest to them? They’re not entirely sure.

Still, Em and Lytcia continue to choose each other with softness, with intention, with courage. Their love is not waiting for permission. But their story is a reminder of how much work still remains, not just in society at large but within the intimate spaces where silence can speak just as loud as rejection.

They are here. Loving. Existing. Becoming. And one day, perhaps, that will be enough.

Brussels, 2022