You can get with this , or you can get with this!
Some of you may be wondering who the person is on the left hand side, while some of you may not. To be clear, it is Beyonce Knowles featured in both pictures above. The rising Queen of Pop has caught herself in a controversy much serious then she imagined. Recently Beyonce was ask to pose for a photo shoot in Paris. This photo shoot was for L' Officiel with an African theme behind it as a tribute to Human Rights Activist and famous Musician Fela Kuti. She modeled and shot in very intricate designs representing the vast cultures throughout the motherland. Then came on the painted "blackface". What is this representing? Blackface for those of you who do not know was a technique used in Entertainment before typically in Minstrell acts. These were demeaning to the African American race, hense why it is not used today. The purpose of her blackface was to show how different african rituals in face use paint. They saw nothing wrong with this, the makeup artist saw this as beautiful and inspiring. From the makeup artist point of view, it was given a Pro-Social outlook. A sense of Pan-Africanism, fashion forward, showing the beauty of Africa and straying away from stereotypes of Africa. Why could they have not used a darker complected model then? I find many issues with this, this is not truly a way to show our progression as African American people. Is this pro-social, fashion forward or a dark look into our past?? You decide!
No comments:
Post a Comment