Flo Ngala fully admits to being a crier. On what may very well be the biggest day of her career — Met Gala Monday — she’s already crying for the second time, and it’s only morning. Turns out, a few drops of boiling water accidentally fell on her back from the bowl carried by her mother to seal the ends of her waist-length cornrows, causing the first wave of tears. Her mom, Tina, who installed the braids, stood back to give Flo a rest while her sister Wendy handled her makeup and family friend Altea Kelly crouched below her to apply her nails. Even the commotion of the day couldn’t compare to the warmth of Flo’s family’s Harlem apartment, which was a welcome change from the glitzy hotel room she had intended to occupy for her Met Gala preparation. “The theme of this entire day is ‘come as you are,'” she tells me. The sob only lasted a few seconds before Flo picked up the phone to continue planning her day, and her glam squad resumed their duties accordingly. The show must go on, after all.
The photographer has had a busy week, starting with a shoot of client Cardi B and ending in a photo pit for Burna Boy’s sold-out Madison Square Garden show, all while trying to move her belongings out of her apartment to a storage unit. Her hair was intended to be strewn into faux locs, and she planned to gather her family, friends, and select media in a hotel with catered Nigerian food to observe the entire glam process. But Flo’s lease on her first apartment was coming to an end, and she had no time to sit in a salon chair, so she had no choice but to return to the place she called home for many years. “At a point yesterday, I called my mom crying because I didn’t have my hair done. I asked her what she thinks I should do. She said, “Well, cancel your hair appointment and do what you have to do,” Flo recalls. Tina and Flo’s late father owned a braiding salon in the late ’90s and early 2000s. For the special occasion though, Tina traded in her healthcare scrubs and came out of retirement to install the curved stitched cornrows currently falling down Flo’s back. “The universe was definitely humbling me in a certain way, but I’m actually just happy because my mom and my sister are my original glam team,” she adds. “I’m happy this is how things ended up happening — being back at home.”
Home is Harlem. Born Florence Ngala in the upper Manhattan neighborhood in 1995, she always wondered why her immigrant parents chose New York over places like Houston or Los Angeles. Flo discovered the spirit and charm of Harlem as she grew older through her many interactions with neighbors, strangers, and at school. “There’s a huge energy here that separates people from Harlem from the people who live in the surrounding boroughs,” she explains. “You go 125th street, it’s lined up with entrepreneurship. You go to a random store on Lennox and someone will be trying to sell you a toothpaste or a shampoo or something. When I was younger, entrepreneurship was something I was surrounded by. I was also surrounded by this beautiful artistry and aesthetic of black excellence. Once I got the camera in my hand around my early teens, Harlem was the first thing I started documenting — and that’s where the street photography came in. “
Flo’s photography career began while she was a student at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, a predominately white prep school where she studied photography classes from ninth through 12th grades. When the then-aspiring photographer returned to her neighborhood after school, inspiration struck her, and she began capturing street shots of Harlem. She juggled her communications degree at The City College of New York with side jobs as a photographer after that. Then, on the first day of the second semester of her junior year, she got her big break: she was hired as an extra for Fat Joe and Remy Ma’s “All the Way Up” music video and brought her camera along to snap photos whenever she could. Cardi B, Burna Boy, and Gucci Mane were among her early photo subjects, followed by a slew of commercial assignments. Cardi B would become a frequent collaborator.
Harlem is also where she met her “big brother” and former neighbor Johnny Nunez, a prominent hip-hop figure known for working as Damon Dash’s personal photographer, who met Flo when she was 13 years old. “It takes a village,” Nunez said as he and his wife, Angelique, entered the crowded apartment. Six hands were crammed around Flo, getting her ready for her 2:30 PM call time, while several others were busy with cameras filming the woman of the hour, scrolling through Spotify attempting to find the perfect Afrobeats tune, or pressing a button by the door to let the many deliveries in. Flo let out another shriek, this one prompted by the stress of the clock ticking away and her driver fast approaching. In a matter of moments, Flo would waltz into the Metropolitan Museum of Art to add yet another accomplishment to her growing list: the first Black woman photographer to shoot inside of the Met Gala.
In 2022, attaching the “first Black” label to anything reveals a wider issue at hand, but Flo’s achievement is cause for even greater celebration. “It means a lot, really,” she says. “In this situation, I think it’s important to know that it is a first, because first of all, the Met has been happening for 74 years. It’s not a new thing. But, I don’t think that the photography space and industry has normalized women photographers who look like me doing work at this level. So it is important to know in 2022 that this is happening. ” What’s more, celebrities at the Met are encouraged not to use their phones, which allows photographers like Flo to have exclusive images of the festivities. “There are only four photographers that were hired, and I’m one of four,” she adds. “So it’s very, very fascinating to think about what it means for my lens to be vetted, and to mean something to such a legacy establishment.”
For the big night, Flo wanted to be doused in Black excellence, from her dress to her accessories and the consultants she recruited for styling help. To find the perfect dress, she looked to her neighbor, Novella Ford, associate director of public programs and exhibitions at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, who sent her down a path to connect with fellow Black creatives that led to a house call. with interior designer Sheila Bridges and, ultimately, a Met Gala dress designed by Mark Ingram for Harlem Toile Archives.
“He pulled out this green dress and we added a bow to it,” Flo said. “He then put some tulle on it, and then he had his seamstress, like, bunch it and make it a little more like short because I would be working and running around still.”
Flo teamed the dress with black embellished mules and a gold double knuckle ring by jewelry designer Johnny Nelson. Known for designing gold rings depicting notable faces in Black history — Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Ida B. Wells, and James Baldwin are just a few of his signature styles — Flo opted for a more personalized touch: a custom piece depicting her parents. “When I found out that the theme was gilded glamor, [Nelson] Definitely came to mind, because I remember seeing his past looks, and his jewelry is so amazing, ”she explains. Flo’s friend Anthony Konigbagbe recommended that she consider Johnny Nelson jewelry for her Met look. “So I reached out to him to do a custom [piece] because I want to invest something creative that was aligned with who I am. ” She settled on the idea of immortalizing her parents through a piece she can cherish forever. “I love my parents very dearly, and it felt like a very special addition to the overall look. He did have other ones that were available to pull, but [this] is just a different level of personal touch. “
The ensemble was a smash at the Met Gala, with Erykah Badu and Cynthia Erivo complimenting Flo throughout the night. But memorable photography was what she was pursuing, and she got the shots no matter what it took. To do so, Ngala held Teyana Taylor’s Christian Louboutins, set aside Tom Ford’s glass, and mended Alicia Keys’s train at the end of the night. Of course, she finally came across Cardi B, with whom she shot behind-the-scenes photos of her Thom Browne Met Gala outfit in 2019. “I asked her take a picture with Kim Kardashian, and Pete Davidson helped me,” Flo says . Mission accomplished.
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