My Skin

This is my skin. Look at the color. It is beautiful. My photos acknowledge me as a person who loves herself. Maybe the rest of the world didn’t know. So I will tell you. I love my skin, features and hair. I love being a Black person. I love my heritage and all the amazing things I have learned from my African ancestors.

I focus on the art of body adornment in my work as a photographer. This body painting began when we were cave dwellers. It was an event that all cultures participated in before we knew people came in different colors. That means it is a marker of being a human being. And it is an action that connects all people.  Sharing this art form gives me the opportunity to show my brown cinnamon skin with the colors of green, blue and yellow ochre. It gives the chance to demonstrate how positive I am that I am beautiful, that I am worthy of equal rights in the country I was born in. Through slavery, Black people were taught to hate themselves. Self-hate makes you powerless. My work as a person and artist is to always show my power, my beauty, my love. If you did not notice before, look at me. This is my skin. Please remember what it means to me.