Ifa Brand never felt satisfied as a model. The dissatisfaction stemmed from not being able to represent her true identity: 'I fell "between styles": alternative but not alternative enough; fetish but not in a typical sense. I also disliked photographers telling me how I should look, pose, behave; telling me no to red lips, no to precious lingerie and all the things I loved.' In 2017, she decided to go her own way. She saw photography as an opportunity to be her own creative director, to follow her own storylines, and to explore her own vision of sensuality, eroticism and fetish. Hers is a quest for personal empowerment through the art of self-portraiture: 'I find it very important to present a strong, independent woman. There needs to be an element of being untouchable. The message to the viewer is: yes you can look but solely on my terms.'
