Dark & Lovely

Colorism is the daughter of racism

~ Lupita Nyong’o

Sometimes, our value seems to be dependent on the shade of our skin. In many countries, the darker your skin is, the less desirable you are. This is the concept of colorism. Colorism is a system of discrimination in which the degree of lightness in the color of one’s skin is compared to other members within the same racial group. Many individuals are conditioned to believe that darker shades aren’t beautiful from a very young age. This is due to how deeply rooted colorism is within our society, which is an effect of colonialism. The belief exists that the lighter our shade is, the closer we step to power and privilege. Along with power and privilege, fairer skin represents beauty and wealth.

Looking back at history, European colonialism and slavery had a devastating impact on societies throughout the world. Darker skin individuals were seen as lower class or poor because they had to work outside, while lighter skin persons were of higher status and could stay indoors. Unfortunately, colorism is pervasive globally as a direct result of colonialism. Often times, we view an act of colorism but do not realize or think much of it. The aspiration to live up to beauty standards and to be accepted in society, to become powerful drives many persons in bleaching or whitening their skin. If not, they are covering their skin or editing their skin tone in their photos. Social experiments have shown that children are raised to believe that being dark-skinned means to be ugly or evil person. There are many stories that depict individuals with blue eyes and a fairer complexion is to be deemed as “beautiful”. School books have made comparisons between darker and lighter skin tones. These books have portrayed darker skin tones as being “ugly” while fairer skin shades as being “beautiful”.

South Asian media often presents this idea that being fair-skinned means being gorgeous. Often times, fair-skinned men and women have been hired to play the roles in Bollywood movies and TV shows. They often equate the very little representation of dark-skinned individuals in these shows and movies to being poor and being incapable of finding love. Not only that, but the small percentage of the dark-skinned community on media is often given the role of villains. In addition, magazines and advertisements are filled with lighter skin persons. The lack of representation of darker skin tones discourages many people from a young age. This, in turn, affects their mental health and self-esteem. The glorification of fair-skinned individuals give power to colorist companies such as Fair & Lovely. Although we are in the 21st century, it’s surprising how these companies are extremely popular. Fair & Lovely is one of the many popular brands that encourage the whitening and lightening of the skin. Some actors and actresses promote the usage of this brand and influence girls and women to lighten their skin to meet beauty standards.

Skin bleaching products are one of the main products bought in households, in the continent of Africa. Bleaching is popular there as being a lighter shade brings a rise in economic status and beauty. In fact, Nigeria is the largest consumer of skin lightening products. Moreover, many girls and women avoid the sun at all costs to not tan. Colorism has taken a psychological toll on these communities. Colorism isn’t just a concept you’d see happening in Asia and Africa, but it is something that occurs in our community too. While colorism happens throughout the Caribbean, it may vary from country to country. On our island, we notice that there is often a preference of lighter-skinned individuals with curly hair over darker ones. Sometimes, we have to reflect if we've ever encountered any of these situations instead of ignoring its existence. Have you ever found yourself preferring a lighter skin tone on yourself or others? Have you ever judged others based on their shade? Did you ever feel your self-esteem fall due to the way media portrays certain skin tones? Did you ever aspire to be anything other than yourself?

Due to this whole ideology that beauty is equivalent to fair skin, I created this project known as “Dark & Lovely”. This project was made as a protest against the colorist company “Fair & Lovely”. In this project of mine, I did a photoshoot along with my friends to show appreciation and highlight their beautiful dark-skinned shades. Through this idea, I wanted to challenge societal norms and beauty standards. I wanted to let this photoshoot be a reminder that your worth is so much more than the shade of your skin. I would like this photoshoot to be the representation that was missed out on the media when searching for dark-skinned individuals among the many fair-skinned persons. Every skin color is beautiful whether it is dark or light and there is no need in changing your skin tone to be beautiful in the eyes of someone else. I would like to give a very big thank you to Jonaliza Matinguha for being our photographer and editing these pictures. I would also like to thank Chantoni Da Cunha, Disha Sharma, Rochelle Richardson, Vanesca Saint-Hilaire, Chantae-Marae Davis, Mahima Panjwani, Armani France, and Jeremiah David for being part of this project and making this a beautiful experience. I hope we were able to encourage you just a bit on your journey to embracing yourself.