Jennie Baptiste’s photographs explore fashion and style as expressions of black British identity, often with a focus on music culture. She was born in Northwest London in 1971, after her parents moved to the city from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia in the 1960s.

Brixton Dancehall Queen Pinky adopts an elaborate style to mirror her personal image using adornment, clothing and interior decoration. Her extravagant appearance is linked to trends within dancehall music culture. Dancehall developed as a music style in Jamaica during the late 1970s, offering slower rhythms than reggae music and greater focus on the dance hall as a space for performance, especially dancing. It is known for its salacious lyrics, suggestive dance styles and revealing outfits worn by women. Although sexually provocative, the dance styles and clothing adopted by dancehall participants can also be seen as empowering forms of self-representation.

The V&A acquired four photographs by Jennie Baptiste as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.