These aren't your typical heavy-metal fans.You might think of men with long hair and bandanas, headbanging to Metallica. But for the "Queens of Marok,"a metal subculture in the southern African nation of Botswana, rocking out in leather jackets and studded pants is about more than their taste in music.
These women, who often go by alter egos, create "double lives" as rockers, according to photographer Paul Shiakallis.
Shiakallis has spent years documenting the female fans who often show off their heavy-metal alter egos and outfits only after dark. Many come from traditional families. Listening to heavy metal — and dressing in the genre's signature style — is a way of pushing back.
"The mindset is still very patriarchal," Shiakallis told Refinery29. "It's much harder to become a rocker as a female than it is as a male in Botswana."
Shiakallis, who lives in South Africa, explores the subculture in his project Leathered Skins, Unchained Hearts.
Boundary-pushing "Queens" of rock: We salute you.
"In my experience, the Marok come from families where the mindset is still very patriarchal. They expect their females to be decent, subservient, and go to church. The men tend to do what they please, and the females have to ask permission to do things," Shiakallis explained. "They sometimes even have to ask for 'permission' from their men to be rockers, whether their men are rockers or not. The Queens that are not in relationships have much more freedom than the ones that are, and those Queens tend to have much stronger characters."
Pictured: Bonolo
"If it's not their men that are stopping them from becoming rockers, then it's their church groups," he added. "One of the Queens told me her church believed that she was possessed by a demon, and that she might turn to Satanism if this demon is not expelled from her body. It's much harder to become a rocker as a female than it is as a male in Botswana, and this dynamic attracted me."
Pictured: Millie Hans
The movement, Shiakallis said, gives these women "a platform for self-expression and release from the monotony of normal everyday life."
"They find a belonging and a support system with other rockers. They get acknowledgment and attention, and a sense of individualism and worth," he said.
Pictured: Debbie Baone Superpower
For many women, it's also an important outlet from the stresses of daily life.
"Some Queens work as police officers, and they tell me it allows them to de-stress from their jobs," he said. "Some have admitted that it's not necessarily the music that attracts them, but more the lifestyle, the dressing up, and the nicknames they assign themselves. I think, in a sense, the Marok movement affords them the thrill of living a double life."
Pictured: Katie Dekesu
"Some Queens love to come home after work, and change from work clothes to a branded band T-shirt, or slip on their leather pants and play some metal while they look after their kids," he said. "They generally dress and behave very conservatively in everyday life. The men, on the other hand, will wear hints of their rocker attire, like a chain or boots, to work and are very vocal about their rocker lifestyle."
Pictured: Vicky
The fans Shiakallis encountered ranged in age. "The Marok movement is not a youth subculture," he said. "The Marok tend to come from a very family-orientated upbringing, so free thought is limited. Interests in other lifestyles is only expected at a later stage, when they are able to fend for themselves."
Pictured: Bontle Sodah Ramotsietsane
Shiakallis tried to photograph the women "in and around their homes to show their typical environments and the domesticity they have been conditioned towards."
"Photographing them at night was an effort to show the relevance of their double lives and their alter egos in comparison to who they are during the day," he said.
Pictured: Samie Santiago Newsted
But it wasn't possible to completely escape Botswana's traditions and gender norms.
"On a number of occasions, the husbands or boyfriends (whether rockers or not) would thwart the shoots because they did not want their women to be in the presence of another man (me, the photographer) or to gain any sort of recognition for being a rocker," Shiakallis said.
Pictured: Lonely House
Shiakallis learned about Botswana's metal scene when a friend from Gaborone, Botswana, invited him to a 2011 rock festival. "It was their version of Woodstock," he said. "It was nothing like what you would expect in first-world countries, but it had something very unique that no other international festival had. Its audience were made up of Metal Cowboys — the Marok, as they like to call themselves."
He encountered the Marok culture again in 2014, when he returned for his friend's wedding festivities. He began connecting with Queens on social media after meeting several at another rock show organized by his friend's family.
"I met the Queens as rockers and not as your everyday individual. So, when I saw pictures of them on Facebook wearing casual clothes, I was skeptical about them being the same person," he said. "They go through quite a metamorphosis from day to night, and they have to have a strong resilience towards public perception to live this lifestyle, as they are always being criticized."
Pictured: Sierra
The re-introduction to the style had a lasting impact on Shiakallis. "I listen to them quite regularly now and am slowly expanding my playlists, working my way up from the '80s," he said. As for the Marok women, Shiakallis said they "tend to like more melodic heavy metal, as opposed to death or black metal." Shiakallis cited Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Manowar as some of the bands the Queens enjoy listening to.
Pictured: View from Mokatse Boulder
Shiakallis hopes that the subculture will continue to thrive — and impact the lives of others. "Music is food for the soul and is not gender-, class-, or race-specific," he said. "It can be used as a catalyst for change."
Pictured: Phoenix Tonahs Slaughter
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