Carnival in Rio de Janeiro sees the city’s streets flood with crowds of bodies awash in extravagant costumes and beauty looks. But it’s also a time when, Kayodê Andrade says, “conversations about bodies, colour, heat and sweat are everywhere in the city.” Joining that dialogue is the transmasculine health collective TransMaromba, founded by Andrade, who threw their Maromba’s Ball where transmasculine bodies, alongside other trans and gender-dissident identities, came together to celebrate and compete in a bodybuilding-meets-ballroom event. 

The event married together the city’s thriving ballroom scene with gym culture. It was hosted by Andrade alongside two other transmasculine collaborators Paole Matas and Nathan Santos. As the community showed up to compete and perform, prizes for categories inspired by bodybuilding and gym aesthetics – such as Realness, Big Body, Sex Siren and Vogue – were up for grabs, judged by a panel that included important figures from the international ballroom scene; Jota Kayodê, Diego Cazul, Rothyer Juyce Cuture, Legendary Lua Brainer and Prince Cuxe Candace.

The TransMaromba ball was a celebration of identity – something that Andrade says is vital to the Rio transmasculine scene. “Trans bodies have historically been made invisible, silenced, or seen only through the lens of violence and marginalisation,” he says. “Creating a space of celebration is, first of all, a political act of existence. It’s about saying that our bodies are not just bodies in transition or bodies in dispute, but bodies of power, beauty, strength, and community.”

This energy carries throughout photographer Roma Joana’s photos, which show participants emerging from the thicket of the crowd, some doing last-minute adjustments before taking to the floor, others embracing or losing themselves to the live DJ set. “There was a strong collective feeling of belonging, like everyone there knew they were experiencing something bigger than themselves. Some people were walking for the first time, others had been in the scene for years. For me, the space became a place of freedom, where I – and everyone there – could exist with pride.”

Check out the gallery above for more photos from the event.