episode 3: Isaac spry
(he/him)
Image Courtesy of Isaac Spry
“Ever since I was a little boy, I would sketch and daydream…
And in my high school yearbook I wrote that I wanted to be a fashion designer.”
Spry’s Studio - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)
“When I realized I was gay, I didn’t try to front or fake.
There’s a cost for that. There’s a cost that comes with being your authentic self.”
“I always knew - by the age of maybe eleven, twelve, I knew I was different.”
Images of young Spry. Courtesy of Isaac Spry
“It’s hard because you’re in a place where everything tells you this is wrong. Your family says this is wrong. The church says this is wrong. The school - everything in your environment. It’s not like it is today.
Back in the day, if you saw gay people on television, it was comedy. They were stereotypical and they were there to be a joke - something to be laughed at, nothing to be taken seriously.”
Image and Source Courtesy of The Atlanta LGBTQ+ Context Statement - New South Associates for Historic Atlanta and the City of Atlanta Office of Design (2023)
“In the early nineties, you would see someone and they look healthy and then six months later, they look like they’re dying. And then before you know it, they’re dead.”
Spry’s Home - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)
“When I first moved to Atlanta, I was like a kid in a candy shop. Atlanta’s like the Black Mecca of the gay life… Just like the Black community we are diverse. And sometimes people have a tendency to try and put us in a box. We are an array. We are a variety of people.”
African American Lesbian Gay Alliance (1988). Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center
“It was just clubbing, and partying, and going to shows, and being free.
like a bird out a cage, that’s been set free.”
Images and Sources Courtesy of The Atlanta LGBTQ+ Context Statement - New South Associates for Historic Atlanta and the City of Atlanta Office of Design (2023)
“I’ve worked pretty much with every major network - CBS, NBC, Netflix, Marvel. I was one of the tailors on Black Panther, the first movie.”
Images of Spry’s Studio - Photographed by Niyah Shaheed (2025)
“I think out of all the shows I’ve done, Black Panther was most rewarding because to me, that was part of history, that was a historical event. And my name was in the credits. So I go down in history with that.”