Self Portrait

Skin Deep
I chose to create a self portrait that embodies the idea of beauty and its standards in today's society. There is much controversy about what true beauty is and how to attain it, and the standard of beauty is constantly changing. With images surfacing everywhere of perfectly made up unnaturally thin supermodels of one specific race, the media and commercialism influences young women to try and achieve this superficial idea of beauty while making them feel ashamed of the natural skin for which they were born with. In my portrait, I am wearing my hair in its natural state, a curly Afro for which draws its own controversy amongst the black community. Some people believe that this hairstyle is not beautiful. They think it looks messy, unkept and untamed while others like myself are prideful of it. For a while the standard of beauty, which has been defined by the media and commercialism was to have light skin, long straight hair and a thin figure. Those who didn't fall into those categories were then ashamed of not resembling this. My goal with this portrait is to empower those who don't feel comfortable in their skin and to allow them to realize their natural beauty.