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A Radiant Light in a Dark Room

By Jocelyn Foster Tatum
Photos by Rambo Elliott

The tassels on her short silver sequin dress sway in unison with her hips as she dances for the camera in front of a white backdrop in her living room. The “boss bitch” music plays in the background at a low volume. Megan Thee Stallion and City Girls are a few of her favorites. Her recovering rescue dog, Casey, a huge black German shepherd mix named after her father, watches her lovingly from the couch. That day it was self-portraits. Rambo Elliott becomes one of her subjects she photographs, healing through the playful and glamorous moment as she kicks up her heels and dances to the boss-bitch beat, winking at the lens in her sparkling dress, black leather jacket and cowboy boots.

This is when she gets to be creative. She feels beautiful, smiling for the camera and dancing without a client directing her or commenting on her looks. She prefers to pick the set and to do her own styling and makeup. This parallels the healing she brings to other women when she empowers them in a single shot. “Toss your hair,” she might suggest