African Queen

Original Image 

 

In a recent article in Numero Magazine, they had a 16 year old girl from North Carolina pose as an African Queen.  Maybe this wouldn’t have been such an issue if they hadn’t painted her face black to give her that “African vibe” they so needed.  People who saw the photographs were outraged.  They couldn’t believe that the photographer couldn’t simply have given this job opportunity to a black model, rather than a white one.  In a world where the media tells us that true beauty is a white woman, especially in high fashion, this would have been the perfect place to show that all women are beautiful.

That is why I remixed the photo shoot with a picture that I took in Kenya this past summer.  In the Masai tribe, women do virtually of the daily duties.  That is why I thought this woman was more suited to be an African queen. There ARE also white women in Africa, so they could have chosen a white woman for this photo shoot.  However, they should have actually portrayed her as a white person rather than a white woman looking like a black woman.  This is why I chose to redo the photo shoot in two different ways.  I found a beautiful model by the name of Gina Athans, a woman known not only for her stunning looks but for her charitable causes.  Gina could easily be called an African queen considering that she is from South Africa.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/numero-magazine-blackface-apology-african-queen_n_2772670.html

Remix 1

"Gina Athans" (30 of 55). (n.d.).iPhotoScrap mobile. Retrieved March 12, 2013, from http://m.iphotoscrap.com/m.scrap.view.php?q=Gina+Athans&ap=29&df=55

Remix 2