LOS ANGELES – Charli XCX with a blunt black bob and bedazzled choker. A faceless figure in chains wearing a leather dog mask. Emmy Award winning Drag Queen Lushious Massacr in a sparkling push up bra. What do all of these people have in common? They are a part of a collection of portraits titled “In the Night” that captures the joy and exuberance of the underground queer party scene in Los Angeles.
Each individual in this collection was photographed with the aesthetically astute eye of Nikko La Mere, a Black queer photographer, videographer, and creative producer born and raised in Los Angeles. La Mere, over the course of their career, has captured almost everybody – from people in the white hot spotlight of the cultural sphere, such as Taylor Swift and Cindy Crawford, to those who dance in the sweaty shadows of the underground LA queer scene.
Some may call it a coincidence, and some may call it fate, but it’s surely no surprise that La Mere grew up on a set. Being raised by their grandmother between Culver City and Santa Monica, La Mere watched as she quaffed the tresses of artists like Cher and Micheal Jackson.
Crossroads School in Santa Monica, where they attended both middle school and high school, continued their immersion into a creative atmosphere. Here, La Mere was first exposed to David LaChapelle, one of their biggest inspirations as a photographer.
“I just remember opening up a David LaChapelle book, and it was all these celebrities. He transformed them. The colors were insane, and I was like ‘I think I want to do whatever this is,’” La Mere shared.
After this spark of inspiration, they began to frequently take photos of their cousin and high school friends, trying to emulate LaChapelle’s photographic vision. La Mere’s passion for photography, in combination with their childhood musical exposure, eventually led them down the path of capturing some of the world’s most renowned musical figures. “My journey was always rooted in music,” La Mere said.
After spending two years at UC Davis, La Mere felt stunted in a non-creative space, and decided to spend 10 months in New York City with their cousin, a model and singer. Through a high school connection they were able to assist Anthony Mandler, an iconic photographer and director, with a Rihanna perfume advertisement. It was surely kismet that La Mere, prior to the shoot, had recently gotten Rihanna’s star tattoo on their thigh.
“It was a very crazy experience…Even though it was not paid, I felt like I made it,” La Mere said. “I was the lowest number on the callsheet, but that moment made me and pushed me to keep on going because it was so exciting.”
Although La Mere attended ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena after their time in New York City, their eagerness to get into the real world of photography deterred them from completing their degree. Ironically, La Mere failed a class revolving around film, the medium they rely on for a vast majority of their work.
La Mere’s failing grade is no reflection of their talent, as they have been able to work with some of the most notable musicians and celebrities today. Through their position on the photography team at Apple Music, La Mere was able to take photos of artists like Elton John, SZA, and Billie Eilish. Beyond the still shot, La Mere has also directed a number of music videos for artists like Doechii, MARINA, and Travis Barker. When working with these artists, their goal has always been to create something fresh and elevated. Speaking about celebrities outside the music world, La Mere shared their experience having multiple shoots with Cindy Crawford, and the lessons learned from working with this cultural icon.
“I reminded myself, ‘Ok girl, if you’re shooting Cindy Crawford, there’s something to it’…it gave me a lot of confidence,” La Mere shared.
Although exciting, the corporate atmospheres of major label and artist shoots had begun to exhaust La Mere artistically. This eventually led to their “In the Night” series. By initially experimenting with a black and white disposable, and being fascinated with the results, La Mere produced a large body of work documenting this underground nightlife. Taking photos and further embedding themselves into queer spaces, La Mere explains, helped them to better understand their own identity.
“I started to figure out more of who I was getting older, where I fit being in the spectrum of being queer and Black and all of that and just as a creative, I just grew a lot during that time,” La Mere said.
September of 2025, La Mere shared this “In the Night” series at Godspeed Labs, a Black – and queer – owned creative space in Echo Park where artists can create and showcase their work. This space brought their creative vision to life – several musicians helped to curate the sounds of the event, photos taken in the bathrooms of underground warehouse parties were hung in an immersive bathroom set, and many of the subjects from this series helped to turn the exhibition into its own warehouse party. Their subsequent “Queer Fantasy” series was an extension of “In the Night” – it involved 40 portraits with 40 people, conducting an interview with each subject La Mere had shot. As of Feb. 13, La Mere in collaboration with the Los Angeles LGBT Center has launched an exhibition titled “JOY!”: an exhibition combining their “Queer Fantasy” and “In the Night” series, and a pledge of what La Mere describes as a form of resistance.
“This work is just very raw, in your face, and it’s just showing people in their most comfortable selves. Not shying away from whatever that is is a form of resistance,”
La Mere explained. La Mere urges the next generation of budding queer creatives to go against the grain and create what is meaningful to them, a credo that La Mere has and continues to abide by – “If people question it you should probably make it.”
