Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Clean Faces Project


     Growing up Nigerian, I never paid much attention to what I see as beautiful in our black women today. Perhaps I was just too busy living in the bright innocence of my childhood to pass judgement down on an individual's outer, material appearance.  I have always looked towards the width and warmth of a smile, how the eyes narrow with the expansion of the lips, and how the body moves together with a laugh. Of course as a child, I wasn't completely blind and naive to the standards of beauty that were set up for women. I would notice the light, blotchy effects of bleaching cream on certain women that let their faces stand out from the rest of their dark bodies, the black dots on their cheeks created by eyeliners to emphasize the depth of their dimples, and an occasional chipped tooth or two caused by an attempt to artificially create a gap between their front teeth.


     I never paid much attention to the different shades of skin that I saw back at home. I saw it all, although I have very patiently tried to explain to a few people here in the States on several occasions that not all Africans have the same skin tone. As I delved deeper into my studies at the Africana Studies Department of my University, I was taken back to the era of slavery and I have come to realize that the residue of the 'house' and 'field slave' mentality still lingers amongst us. Now of course bear in mind that the African and the African-American experience differs in several aspects, but there is still a fine thread that connects us all. An active member of the black community here, I have been a part of several discussions pertaining to black beauty. We've touched on it all. Weaves, clothes, make-up, how 'mixed' a woman is and so on. Women insist that they can't have natural hair because they don't have that 'good hair'. That they don't have 'Indian' in their family. That they need make-up to cover their blemishes. That weaves are essential. It really isn't anything that we haven't heard before.
     Then we turn to the media. Where black women fit into certain roles. We have our Jezebels and video  vixens. Women who become highly sexualized beings in movies and music videos, most bearing a certain lighter skin tone. We have our Mammies, the often overweight, good-natured black women that lack any desirable female qualities. Then we have our sassy, usually dark-skinned, finger snapping, head-rolling, ball-crushing woman. The list really does go on, but I'm sure that you can recognize the mentioned three in media and perhaps in real life as well.
     So I did the Clean Faces Project. I walked around campus and invited as many black women as I could find to be a part of it. I asked them to come make-up free, free of any artificial layering that would be distracting from their natural beauty. I told them that they could wear their hair in whatever state that they preferred, mainly because I believe a black woman's hair tells a lot on the woman's personality. I ask you all to look closely at each woman in these photographs. We all have our unique looks, a trait or feature that makes us stand out so let us step away from what the media tells us, what men want from us, even what our parents expect of us and see the plain, simple beauty that can be seen in our everyday, not-so-regular black women. 















   Photography: Cameron Davis (http://camerondavisfotos.tumblr.com/)

17 comments:

  1. These women are gorgeous! I love that you have them in black & white. It draws so much attention to their eyes. Amazing.

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  2. They are all gorgeous, black beauty comes in different shades, shapes and sizes:)

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  3. What a great idea for an experiment. These sisters are Beautiful!

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  4. Love this post & experiment! This makes me want to do this at my school

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  5. LOVE IT! The black and white emphasizes their natural beauty while simultaneously conveying the seriousness of the fact that we are most beautiful natural.

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  6. Love love love this project Yagazieeee!!! Thank you always for celebrating real life.

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  7. i actually do love this! Perception, and how it's viewed not even just amongst us but how media portrays a certain ideology of what beauty is.

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  8. This is beautiful!!!

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  9. GORGEOUSSSSSSS!!! I just wrote a blog post on black & white photography so this is so refreshing to see ESPECIALLY the concept behind it! Striking! Thanks for such a breath of fresh air!

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  10. love love this idea....I awarded you the sunshine award, please check out my blog for more information

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  11. It's a great concept! I hope you continue with it :) They are beautiful xx

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  12. This is beautiful! Put a smile on my face.

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  13. Great concept Yagazie! Isn't it amazing how truly different and yet alike we are.

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  14. Very cool, it is good to see that you are doing well and staying active in community while keeping Africa close. -Peace and blessings

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