You Need To See These Breathtaking Self-Portraits By FKA twigs’s New Teenage Collaborator

As part of her new collaboration with Nike, FKA twigs hand-selected a cast of dancers and athletes to join her in modeling the clothing, explaining that she wanted the campaign to “to inspire people who want to use their bodies in a positive way." Her creative choices extended behind the camera, too: she chose 17-year-old Austrian-born, Brussels-based photographer David Uzochukwu to shoot the stills for the campaign.

Uzochukwu started taking photos at the age of 10, and quickly found a penchant for self-portraiture because — as he told Instagram — "I was too frightened to ask anyone to let me photograph them." Gradually, he's brought more people into his work, explaining that his biggest inspiration is "how fragile and strong humans can be at the same time.”

But the most striking images on his otherworldly Instagram account are the self-portraits that show Uzochukwu himself submerged, contorted, and often — just like FKA twigs — finding power in vulnerability. He told Konbini in 2015, “The experiences I’ve [had] all throughout my childhood — prejudices, bullying, emotional and physical violence...[have] shaped my vision of myself and my interactions with others, and that’s something I deal with in my self-portraits.”

“[Uzochukwu is] so incredibly young and talented,” twigs told It's Nice That. “I’m sure he has an incredible career ahead of him. He’s so certain in what he wants and has such a clear vision.” See a selection of his most outstanding self-portraits below, and follow him here.