Namwali Serpell is a Zambian writer and literary scholar living in San Francisco. We met at Serpell’s co-working space, The Ruby, in San Francisco, and sat outside on the patio on a gloriously sunny afternoon in early May to discuss unintentional feminism, sci-fi dreams, the crisis of irony, and blood, hair, and tears.

Queens-based artist Mickey Aloiso’s photography project From Europe, With Love captures Aloisio’s experience traveling through queer communities in some of Europe’s largest cities. From Europe, With Love consists of classically conceptualized yet bizarre images that subvert our conventions of beauty, sexuality, and Instagram photos. We spoke with Aloisio about his experience putting together this (NSFW) photo series.