Opal Onyx the Puppeteer (in their studio and bedroom)
Shot on Portra400 120mm
Shortlisted for the British Journal of Photography Portrait of Humanity (2024) and Winner (Honourable Mention) in the International Photography Awards (2024)
“hi I’m Opal. I grew up in Jersey, I’m intersex, never went to uni, and I never received any formal education around puppetry, performance or theatre really of any kind. My high school closed the drama department when I was 13. I was homeless for a brief stint then I moved to Australia and since then have been making big horrible exciting puppets. Growing up on a tiny, extremely conservative island in the 2000s made me buck against normality and the “cult of conformity”. but I was never very academic and don’t really know how to say that more eloquently.”