Tru Shots Photography Blog: February 2012

9 Powerful Quotes From Iconic Black Women Artists and Activists

I love reading the competent writing and hearing the inspirational words of iconic Black women artists and activists of the past and the present. Below are a 9 of my favorite quotes.

"Women have to find strength from other women, because that is what gets us through." - Afeni Shakur (former Black Panther, activist, mother of slain poet,writer, rapper and actor Tupac Shakur).

"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive." - Audre Lorde (poet and activist)

"Personal success devoid of meaningfulness, free of a steady commitment to social justice, that’s more than a barren life, it is a trivial one." - Toni Morrison (Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author, professor and scholar)

"Your life is already artful—waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art." - Toni Morrison

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” - Alice Walker (Pulitzer prize-winning author, poet, and human rights/animal rights activist)

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." - Zora Neal Hurston (one of the most powerful writers of the 20th century)

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” - Maya Angelou (world renown poet)

"When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." - Audre Lorde

"Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise." - Alice Walker

| Saturday, February 25, 2012 | 2 Comments

Black Women and The National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian)

"The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story." (description of its purpose from the website)

Information about one of the exhibits crossed my stream this afternoon on Twitter (so of course, I hurriedly followed NPG's Twitter account with my Tru Shots Photography Twitter account, @trushots [I still have my now personal account @thetrudz]). A beautiful photographic display about notable Black Americans is there through April of 2012 and is called The Black List by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. He is a White male photographer who seeks to redefine the negative connotation of the phrase "the black list" to invoke a meaning of pride, not dread.

I don't think that I will make it to D.C. before April to see the exhibit in person, but luckily on the website for The Black List (as linked above) some of these portraits of notable Black men and women are shared. Since my project for Black History Month is Black Women - Past and Modern, below are four links to my favorite portraits of Black women amidst this wonderful collection.

Toni Morrison - She always looks both strong and compassionate, both wise and open-minded in her portraits. I love them. (Brilliant Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author.)

Lorna Simpson - I mentioned her in a post about Black women pioneers in photography that I wrote earlier this month as a part of my aforementioned project. I love this portrait of her. (Talented visual artist.)

Suzan-Lori Parks - She is stunning with amazing hair! Her smile is truly warm. (Amazing Pulitzer prize-winning playwright.)

Serena Williams - She is always beautiful with the perfect combination of athleticism and softness. (The best female tennis player of our time.)

I love the visual and intellectual recognition of such an exhibit, and I am so glad that I came across this information today because I did not know about this exhibit....another reason why I love Twitter.

| Thursday, February 23, 2012 | No comments

14 Talented Black Women Creatives On Twitter

I recently shared a post where I praised the creativity and conversation of 12 Awesome Black Women Photographers On Twitter. But, photographers aren't the only artists who inspire me through their work and their words, shared via Twitter. There are other genre of artists that I enjoy as well.

@ReneeMHamilton - My sister Renee is an amazing makeup artist who is studying at the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics & Cosmetology. She already has years of experience in makeup artistry, but wanted to further her education in her craft. She also has a Bachelors degree in Business and is a high-ranked enlisted officer in the U.S. Army, now the Reserves. She is so creative! We've worked together a lot in the past under her past company name Art by Ideity, and she has now re-branded herself with her own name. (You can also check out her page on Facebook.) I think that makeup artists and photographers go together like a great icing on a well-made cake. I previously blogged about how I think both photographers and clients can benefit from working with makeup artists (and in that post, I list several Twitter handles of other makeup artists--more fabulously creative Black women. One of my favorites in that list is @IvyLaArtista. Brilliant. Creative. Focused.)

@7952EARRINGS - Traci is a talented jeweler who makes the most incredible designs. She is also hilarious and very blunt with her personal Twitter account. (The aforementioned user name is her business one). She designed the earrings on my eBook cover (Photography Projects For Practice and Portfolios) that you see on the right side of this blog.

@Damasterstylist - Keshia is am AMAZING hairstylist (as well as a jeweler and makeup artist). Her hair styles are so amazingly creative, fierce and...exact. I don't think she's ever met a pair of scissors she couldn't work. It's like artistic perfection.

@KrisDeLaRash - Kris is a fabulous poet, producer, singer, activist and writer. Her song "Crapitalism" gave me LIFE. She is aware, intelligent and very creative.

@CNRush - Christel is a GREAT person to follow on Twitter. Her depth and breadth of knowledge on music, politics, and art at large is wonderful. I always look forward to her tweets and things that she shares. She calls herself (in her Twitter bio) a "poetic rapping scientific musician." I love that! I love music!

@LauraJInspire - Laura sings inspirational songs and shares her faith with a positive twist that is absent of judgment or intrusiveness. She's an all around nicey-pie.

@thatartista - Philece is an amazingly talented visual artist. Her drawings and paintings are gorgeous.

@Lisa1660 - Lisa is a very cool and creative person who loves Instagram mobile photography! Her collages would give many pro photographers a run for the money. She has an eye! Also, she has very smart and thought-provoking tweets quite often.

@YayToonDay - Yetunde is the wife of one of my favorite male (feminist, intellectual, scholar) followers (@DanTresOmi), and she is very creative. I like some of her posts on design on her blog.

@AsiaBrown - L'Asia is creative...from writing (journalism) to fashion (starting her own company). She's incredibly smart and often shares information and ideas via tweets that are fascinating and thought-provoking.

@heyshenee - Shenee is creative and inspirational. Her no nonsense writing has inspired me to a few social media/branding related "amens" in my time on Twitter. I love her positive energy and spirit.

@LakeshaWomack - Lakesha is a great creative business blogger who has had some good posts that really promoted thought and conversation on everything from small business to relationships.

@happyblackwoman - Rosetta is a GREAT creative blogger who shares helpful business, blogging, social media and relationship perspectives.

Of course this list isn't all of the amazing Black women artists that I follow on Twitter, but I wanted to share a few with you. Twitter really is amazing...how it connects people who don't know each other over common interests. I feel that Twitter is better for this than Facebook since Facebook usually connects through familial or employment relationships and unknown friend requests can seem intrusive. On Twitter, the door is already opened to jump into great conversation and sharing. And, I am truly lucky that I get to interact with great people there, including fabulously beautiful, creative, intelligent and talented Black women.

| Tuesday, February 21, 2012 | 5 Comments

Remembering Whitney Houston...

All of this month I am celebrating Black women in my project called Black Women - Past and Modern. (View all posts related to this project here.) There is no way that I could continue the project of sharing blogs, curated lists and photographs and not mention Whitney Houston. Like many fans, I was devastated when I learned that she had passed away. I spent a good hour or two just checking news sites to convince myself that it was just a Twitter lie or some other scam. It is actually pretty common for Twitter users to rapidly circulate a lie about a celebrity's death. Though Twitter is awesome, one of the downfalls is that it is also a place where cruelty resides at times.

Once I confirmed the news, I decided not to stay on Twitter that night because the almost sociopath-like response to any celebrity's death is very awkward to witness. Basically, people try to police others' mourning or decision to mourn by: 1) advising people that unless they "knew" the celeb "in person," no mourning or sadness is warranted, 2) advising people that unless they discussed the celebrity daily prior to the death, they have not "proven" their loyalty enough so they are not allowed to mourn after the celebrity is gone and 3) the celebrity is not "paying" their bills, or something/someone else is "more important" than the death of the celebrity in question, so again mourning is not warranted. Even worse, many people responded to her loss with a racist tunnel vision judgment that makes her the only celebrity who battled substance abuse (um...hello Elvis, Marilyn etc.) or that somehow her death and media attention on her death equates to White celebrities (or even more outlandish, White soldiers overseas) no longer mattering, as if caring for Whitney and loving her legacy means that no one is capable of caring for other celebrities (or soldiers) of other races. Who would stop caring about soldiers because they care about losing Whitney and the impact of her death on her family, music and pop culture at large? We can't walk and chew gum? Why is this even a comparison? It only proves how illogical bigotry truly is. From the hideous Fox News comments to the terrible diptychs and other images that included negative text circling the web, some people have made it apparent that despite the tremendous impact that she had on culture in America, her life is automatically irrelevant because of her race and personal struggle. Their loss.

Whitney was a remarkable woman who had a voice and a talent that we may never see again. The way she sang about love and life with a passion, intensity and fire that was unmatched really touched my heart from the first time I heard one of her songs when I was in elementary school. She was the first young Black woman to grace the cover of Seventeen magazine. I loved how beautiful she looked in videos--something that reinforced that Black women are in fact beautiful and can be beautiful, despite what the world wanted to convince me of as a child in the 80s (and still try to convince me of even now. Kanazawa anyone?) Despite the struggles she had with tough interpersonal relationships and substance abuse because of them (something that Americans of many cultural backgrounds and ages battle...daily...right now), her musical legacy and cultural impact cannot be denied. She is truly special. She is the only person that I can play in Pandora and I am immediately moved to tears (or incredible joy) and not just because she is now gone from this here Earth...her music has always affected me like that. From my Walkman, to my CD player to my iPod mp3s to Pandora radio blasting loudly in my ears, the medium has changed, but her beautiful music remains amazing.

When researching the totality of her accomplishments, I learned that Whitney earned: 2 Emmy Awards, had 4 U.S. #1 albums, 11 #1 songs, 6 People's Choice Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 7 Soul Train Music Awards, 16 NAACP Image Awards, 22 American Music Awards and 30 Billboard Awards among other awards and accolades. Even by her peers, fans, and the recording arts industry itself, she is someone notable. How sad for people whose bigotry doesn't allow them to see that, and instead choose to judge her by her shortcomings alone and reduce her to a racial stereotype, not worthy of a mention or mourn. Again, their loss.

Kindness seems to be challenging for some people. Respect seems to be lacking in many people. If people openly disrespect the President to his face, and often with racial undertones, I suspect that my desires for Whitney to receive respect will not be satiated. I wish her family an inordinate amount of peace in this difficult time. I kindly think of her beautiful young daughter, because I too lost my mom at a young age. I will always remember what Whitney means to art itself as an art lover, and I will always love her.

| Friday, February 17, 2012 | 2 Comments

12 Awesome Black Women Photographers On Twitter

For Black History month 2012, I am doing a project called Black Women - Past and Modern, and sharing my writing, curated lists and photographs on my blog for the project. All blog posts connected to this project are labeled: bwproject. To view the post where I initially announced the project, click here.

I love that I have talked with talented, smart and dynamic Black women photographers on Twitter. My conversations with them about photography (and not about photography) have been interesting and with some of them, inspiring. They have beautiful work as well. (I actually did in-depth interviews of a few mentioned below when I did an interview project in the past called Female Photographer Spotlight, of women photographers of a variety of backgrounds. The ones that I have interviewed in the past have a link after their listing below.)

Below are ones that I think that you should know of (as a peer photographer OR as a potential client.) I curated this list based on only two things that matter the MOST: how fun, interesting, intelligent or dynamic conversations are with them and/or how strong I think their photographic body of work is (for ones that I speak to less often, but still love their work).

@traceybrownfoto - Tracey is a superbly talented and award-winning wedding photographer. She is completely hilarious to tweet with. Awesome personality. She's the first person I recommend when anyone anywhere asks me about wedding photographers. (interview)

@marybphoto - Mary is a great photographer and graphic artist (who like me, is also dabbling in HD dSLR video/filmmaking as well). She's great to tweet with and has a fun and smart personality.

@MsTPrescott - Tasha is a really talented portraiture and wedding photographer who shares great photographs online. She is always cool and real. (interview)

@TheRawCast - Erica is awesome to tweet about the simple and the complex. She's very smart and is a cool photographer.

@photocaptivated - Lyn is one of those awesome photographers who shares tons of great info to help her peers. She rocks.

@chelokeys - Chelo is very nice and a hoot to tweet. Her photographs are magical. She really personifies the ability to "paint with light" in my opinion. Her lighting is unique to me...I just don't see on-location portraits made like hers often.

@category5photo - Camille is smart and great to tweet with. She makes beautiful photographs.

@credd - Cheryl makes amazing photographs, especially of food!

@shedriven - Kim is an amazing photographer and author. I have "known" her online since Myspace days! Really! She's a gem. (interview)

@debrahamphoto - Debra is nice and a good photographer. (interview)

@LBinFASHION - Latrenia has a fabulous sense of style and aesthetics and this can be seen in her work. She uses Facebook more than Twitter per se, but conversations with her are always nice.

@LaKayeMbahPhoto - I don't tweet LaKaye as often as some of the other women, but I adore her portraiture and wedding work. Beautiful.

There is a cool twitter account that's a collective of Black women photographers. (@blackfemphotogs). There's also a group for it on Facebook, but I don't have a personal profile (I deleted it in December 2010, though I am considering making another one) on Facebook (only a fan page), so I can't join groups. Thus, the Twitter account is helpful for social media users like me who are heavy Twitter users but very light Facebook ones.

Don't forget...I also created a new account just for Tru Shots Photography (@trushots, please follow), where I tweet my work, my writing as well as others' great photographs, articles and photography business/education information. I still have my almost 3 year old account on Twitter with 3700+ followers, @thetrudz, which I use as a more personal account...though sometimes I chat art there as well.

| Saturday, February 11, 2012 | 5 Comments

Black Women Pioneers In Photography

Last year, I read a great book called Reflections In Black: A History of Black Photographers from 1845 To The Present by Deborah Willis, which was an AMAZING read, packed with the stories and photographs of many prominent (and less prominent, but still historically significant) Black photographers of our time, and past. What is great about the book is that there is not just 1 or 2 Black women photographers mentioned, but a decent amount are, as well as their contributions. I also peeked at (but haven't read in its entirety) A History of Women Photographers by Naomi Rosenblum. While Black women photographers are only mentioned on about 10-15 pages of the 300+ page book, it made for a good cross reference to the aforementioned book. (Another book that I want to get my hands on is Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, one of the most prominent Black women photographers who carved her own path as a creative and an activist, even while married to the late great Arthur Ashe. Art is rarely just art...but often a tool for education, activism and change. She is also mentioned in Willis' book.)

According to Rosenblum's book, about 100 Black women were portraitists by 1930. This is important because creating portraiture and wedding images is JUST AS IMPORTANT as photojournalism, especially for Black people. Seeing life AS IS, not how the media, the government and mainstream society filters it is important and positively reinforcing, as well as informative as a more well-rounded view. Often photography in its early stages was used to reshape the visual message of the reality of Black life (as of course it is still used today), and offered a different picture than ones often shaped by stereotypes and hatred. As I mentioned in my post about Willis' book, this quote really stood out to me:

"The same photographic technology responsible for the circulation of minstrel caricatures, of dim-witted watermelon eating Negroes, of alleged African cannibals, of happy-go-lucky darkies whose lives revolved around dice and razors, was used to create counter images of African-American life--images of dignity, pride, success and beauty."

Names such as Winifred Hall Allen, a Black woman portraitist who photographed Word War II soldiers (women are ALWAYS a part of war in some shape or fashion...at best, documentarians and nurses...at worst...sadly...victims. NO STORY is accurate and truthful if it is about war yet women, including Black women are removed from it) are mentioned by Rosenblaum. Elizabeth "Tex" Williams became the first Black woman admitted to the Signal Corps photography school at Fort Monmouth, NJ, and photographed medical procedures as well as provided images for military intelligence.

Other notable Black women photographers mentioned in my reading included Carrie Mae Weems, an award-winning photographer who exposes stereotypes of Black people and conveys different visual messages with her work, and Coreen Simpson who has photographed art, fashion and photojournalism and eventually street photography and street portraiture. Accomplished photographer Lorna Simpson uses photography to highlight racism's impact on Black people and has created series of work on Black women.

Black Women and Modern Video/Film

Though Black women are often stereotyped, marginalized or ignored altogether (in terms of video and film), many Black women are still moving forward creatively through video and film mediums. We live in a unique time where despite so many negative portrayals through art, and as pertaining to this blog, video and film, Black women can still shape their presence in this area of art, though often not through mainstream ways. Mainstream media may decide the epitome of who we are as to be portrayed through art is as a maid in The Help, while not so mainstream media (Sundance Film Festival) grants a Best Director award to Ava DuVernay, the first Black woman to receive such distinction. (I almost cried hearing the news). In an interview, DuVernay alludes to the fact that she is interested in MODERN representations of Black people that are substantial and dynamic, especially since the only spaces for Black film seems to be ones that are open for comedy or historical pieces. I like that she mentioned that modern stories are important as well. They are.

The word mainstream often invokes a perception of space and area to move around but the truth is, perceptions and stereotypes makes that space very small for Black women, and often non-existent. Couple this with what appears to be concerted efforts of erasure and silencing by others, challenges continue to exist for Black women in video film. However, some interesting things that Black women are doing with video and film include:

Black women photographers who are also interested in HD dSLR video and/or filmmaking. It's neat that so many photographers of many backgrounds who create photographs are now interested in video or filmmaking as well. There's so many ways to share stories, and learning more than one way to do so is good. I follow some talented Black women photographers on Twitter, and have seen their work with HD dSLR video. Some of these include an award-winning wedding photographer, Tracey Brown, who used video to capture her experience teaching other photographers through a workshop. Another talented portrait and wedding photographer, as well as graphic designer, Mary Brown, is new to HD dSLR video and captured an amazing performance that had the mood and feeling that made me feel like I was there too.

Black women natural hair vloggers. Though not all vlogs are created equal, and some have better editing, legally acquired background music and concise instructions while others do not, the presence of these vloggers is great. It is providing a new connection for women who don't know each other but are interested in hair styling tips and hair health/education. This is important for Black women as historically hair has never been "just hair" in the Black diaspora. Some Black women look for the connection, experimentation and sisterhood that comes about in this vlog community, so I think using video as a medium has been really interesting. I don't watch these videos daily as some users I know do, but I have come across several great channels on YouTube including LUVNaturals, Naptural105, and Afrobella. There are SO MANY more. Keyword searches on YouTube reveal many.

Black women comedians (with videos) who self-publish and self-promote. Humor by large is considered something male even before race or culture is concerned. Many studies report that men AND women tend to think that men are automatically funnier than women. This is interesting because humor is a culturally dependent construct, so there is no way to determine that men are funnier without realizing the impact of gender bias on every facet of culture. Despite all of this, there are some pretty funny Black women in the social media space including: @awkwardblkgrl who has a hilarious and popular web show called The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, @chescaliegh (now famous for the Sh*t White Girls Say To Black Girls videos), @cueblackgirls, who are 2 hilarious theatre degree holders with interesting perspectives, and @oreoexperience, who has an extremely satirical outlook on race and other issues.

Black women already making moves in filmmaking: Clutch Magazine (a very popular blog among Black women) shared a link about 10 Black women making moves in film. The post there is GREAT. (It mentions Ava DuVernay and Issa Rae (@awkwardblkgirl), who I previously mentioned.

Black women using filmmaking to tell multi-layered and dynamic stories about Black women, on a larger level: This would include projects such as the film Pariah and what I mentioned above, Ava DuVernay winning Best Director at Sundance for her film The Middle of Nowhere. This is genuinely inspiring to me.

Art in it of itself is neither automatically good nor bad. It can be used to harm, as Black women know all too well. However, it still can be used to inform, inspire, educate and heal. With self-publishing mediums and creative Black women ready to create, the possibilities continue to grow. I hope that one day the norm and the mainstream view will be one of truth and layers, not stereotypes and lies where Black women are concerned, and that our stories will prevail and be endlessly shared.

| Monday, February 06, 2012 | No comments

Black Women And Great Simple Style Moments

One thing I love about creating portraits of people is that while there are commonalities that everyone shares, everyone can provide their own spin on their personal style...and everyone has their own personality. This is especially evident to me when creating portraits of Black women just from hair alone. Hair is important to us and has a long and intricate history, with both negative and positive elements affecting that history. Another thing is that while I have created beauty portraits of Black women (models and not), I love the more "everyday" ones as well. A woman doesn't have to be a "model" to be beautiful and simply because someone has a portrait made of themselves doesn't make them a model...and they don't need to be. Every person is the subject of a potential portrait.

Another thing besides variances in hair that I like to photograph is simple style. While a portrait may reveal a woman simply wearing jeans and a blouse or the like, sometimes that simple style says a lot, especially when coupled with beautiful hair, accessories and an interesting expression. Last night I looked through some of the portraits that I have made of beautiful Black women over the years, and decided to share a few where I think the simple approach to style was effective and attractive. (Don't get me wrong...I like haute couture and utterly crazy styles as well. Besides, I did photograph someone with zebra-patterned lipstick before. But simple is good too...and just as beautiful.)

What I love: Her beautiful natural hair and creative hand-made earrings go well together. That coupled with the simple colour of her top and the gorgeous smile is great.

What I love: The intensity of the red on red (on red...if you include the earrings as well) is great. I love the expression that she gave me. Her outfit isn't extremely elaborate, but the fierceness of the colour coupled with the subtlety of the necklace which breaks up the red a bit is really fun.

What I love: The cultured look of the headwrap, mixed in with a professional jacket yet a colourful summer top. Add the drama of the earrings and the necklace and the look is still simple, but cultured and really pretty.

What I love: Simple colours and the combination of a scarf (you can't see it all) and a hat as a head covering. It's stylish yet still simple.

What I love: While a typical button-down oxford can be boring, she added a lively colour underneath, which compliments her eye shadow. I love how beautiful she looks...she is a older than my usual clients, and still equally as fabulous. I think the earrings were a nice touch as well.

What I love: Everyone can't wear orange but she does well. That plus the matching jewelry and minimalist (yet healthy and gorgeous) hairstyle is great. That plus a subtle lip colour makes this a great simple style moment to me.

What I love: These were just some "regular" clothes that she had on because this session was just for a gear test for a new camera. But I love it. Her hair is EVERYTHING. And, the ordinariness of the clothing makes the picture. It makes me think of a regular woman like myself just standing there and pondering something. It doesn't make me feel like an "outfit" worn to have a photograph made. It feels natural to me.

What I love: The everyday yet trendy look but still fashionable and cool because of her hair and the accessories.

What I love: She was another one of my fabulous women clients where age is nothing but a number to her. She's confident and her dress (especially the top) works perfectly with hear earrings. Confidence is one of the best accessories to wear in a portrait!

What I love: How everyday and relaxed her look is...but it still has a nice rebel/youthful sensibility to it.

What I love: How simply designed her dress is, yet the look is regal with beautiful natural hair and a fabulous gold belt/scarf with hints of gold.

What I love: It's cute, fun and simple. And, since Florida is spring/summer all year round (except for a few cold fronts now and again), it's something that can be worn many of the months of the year.

Expressing personal style and having it photographed is something I would love everyone to do. Making portraits such as these above is always fun for me.

Related Blog Posts: How To Relax In Front Of The Camera, 8 Tips For Choosing Wardrobe For Your Portraiture Session, How Photographers and Clients Can Benefit From Working With Make-up Artists

| Friday, February 03, 2012 | No comments

Black Women - Past and Modern (Black History Month Project)

In the past, I have shared photography blog posts about talented Black photographers, great reading about Black photographers, and discussed (via blogging, tweeting and more) many issues surrounding Black culture and its intersection with art. Also, as a photographer, many of my portraiture clients are beautiful Black people and I've created many cultural documentary images of Black life as well. I share this year round because this is my story as a human being, a Black woman, and a photographer of many people of a variety of culturally rich backgrounds, including Black people.

February is Black History month, and though I share things year round about Black experiences, I wanted to do a special project this year that I call "Black Women: Past and Modern." Thus, the blog posts that I share this month will center around this theme.

Yesterday I went to a library and saw a Black history section created for this month. Great! But...every single book in that section was about Black men and by Black male authors. While their contributions are of course incredibly meaningful and powerful, it disconcerting that a library feels that Black women should be left out of this story.(For the record, this library does carry books about and by Black women---I check them out, just for some reason, these were not added to this section at the front of the library.) Though my expectations of mainstream media are sometimes low when it comes to how we (Black people) are represented, I still hold libraries and schools to a higher standard (though perhaps at times naively considering history). Thus, I was disappointed.

Gender privilege often dictates that Black = man and racial privilege often dictates that woman = White. At this cross section is where Black women are often marginalized and erased. While some people feel that it is: ok to leave Black women out of the film Red Tails (or purposely erase them), ok that Black women can barely get film roles as it is, and ok that Black women are consistently marginalized and stereotyped throughout various forms of media from still art, to music, to television, to filmmaking, I don't think it is ok. We matter.

I am spending this month sharing and celebrating Black women as human beings, as women, as artists, and as elements of our collective past and modern times, through writing, curated lists and photographs. I'm excited.

I may share posts on other topics as I would normally blog, so the best way to see all of the posts in succession is with this keyword link, bwproject.

Related Blog Posts: Cameras, Conversation, Culture and Censorship, A Very Different Photograph Critique, How Beyoncé Influenced My Perspective On Being A Creative, What Nobel Prize Winning Author Toni Morrison Reminded Me About Photography

| Wednesday, February 01, 2012 | 1 Comment

9 Powerful Quotes From Iconic Black Women Artists and Activists

Black Women and The National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian)

14 Talented Black Women Creatives On Twitter

Remembering Whitney Houston...

12 Awesome Black Women Photographers On Twitter

Black Women Pioneers In Photography

Black Women and Modern Video/Film

Black Women And Great Simple Style Moments

Black Women - Past and Modern (Black History Month Project)

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