RIHANNA BY LORNA SIMPSON “OF EARTH & SKY, 2020” . PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLAGE, DIMENSIONS VARIABLE © LORNA SIMPSON. ALL RIHANNA BY LORNA SIMPSON IMAGES COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND HAUSER & WIRTH.

Superstar Rihanna covers the January-February 2021 issue of Essence Magazine in a noteworthy collaboration with artist Lorna Simpson (IG) commissioned by Essence, now in its 50th year of publishing. The cover image ‘Of Earth & Sky’ is meant to involve “Reinterpreting the narrative of modern-day beauty”. In the 12-page portfolio feature, Rihanna’s collage images by Simpson reinterpret iconic Black magazine women from vintage magazines like Jet and Ebony. Read more about Lorna Simpson at Hauser & Wirth.

The song “Thick” by DJ Chose played while Rihanna posed for the photos. For the artistic fashion story, Rihanna wears pieces from her signature Savage X Fenty collection as well as Givenchy, Hood by Air, Prada, Rick Owens, Thelma West and more. Rihanna was styled by her creative director Jahleel Weaver, who conceived the idea of connecting her with Simpson.

“BRIDGE” RIHANNA BY LORNA SIMPSON, OF EARTH & SKY, 2020

Zora Simpson Casebere (IG), Simpson’s daughter, writes the accompanying essay to the project:

“At 13, I was deeply grateful that at a formative time in my life, it was Rihanna’s voice and art that became my portals to so many questions about sexuality, sexual exploration and sexual autonomy. Now, on set, I assisted my mother as a model as she explored how she might later place Rihanna within the visual contexts she’d selected from vintage Ebony magazines, old Associated Press photographs and 19th-century lithographs of mineral specimens. When Rihanna arrived at the set—my first time seeing her in real life—I was mesmerized. She was the very definition of grace, charisma and influence. Wearing a magnificent Maximilian black headdress, she requested the song ‘Thick’ by DJ Chose, then met the camera with power and possibility—power in how she moved her body through space, and possibility in how she dismantled and moved beyond institutional boundaries…”