Empowered

On being a Woman of Colour.

In a society with more complexities than can be numbered, it is about time we celebrate women of colour and acknowledge their experiences. Recently I got to photograph some of my gorgeous friends who happen to be women of colour. These women are incredible. They are resilient. They are gracious. They are so well spoken, and I asked each of them to share a few words on how they experience this world as being women of colour. When they shared these words with me, I hung onto every last one of them. How precious it is to be able to sit and listen to the stories of these women. I hope you will do the same.

Tatum: 

"Being a woman of colour, I find myself either subconsciously or consciously engaging with my reflection. Grasping the shape of myself and the aspects of my milk chocolate brown exterior. A resonance of sweet cinnamon within the colour palate of my body, which carries both my soul and hidden stories of the colorful women who have reigned before me. I love the texture of my hair in it’s natural state. It has really created more dimension and depth to me. “Kroes” hair is great hair! I melt with love as I know that I am worthy and have the ability to make a change and represent to the world that a woman is power!"




"I melt with love as I know that I am worthy"


"My struggle as a melanin goddess? Are that of me having to constantly explain myself or “back up” my existence. I am who I am, not only DNA but also experience. My origin comes from that of both Coloured and Black roots. My entirety has been raised and embedded within a predominantly Coloured area, and the pressure to not become one with the system has always, and is still, immensely enforced. Unwanted attention from older men has always been annoying. Like, a woman on a mission is a woman on her way to make change! It’s unnecessary for me to have to lecture about respectful behavior and expression of inappropriate manners to the likes of a grown man.
Having to articulate and prove that the woman of colour is beauty, as it’s only now starting to be somewhat recognized as “attractive”, has in adolescent years added insecurity, but my drive, and knowing that my beauty is worthy has made me love myself and therefore spread positive love."




"My hope for society is that there is a complete 180 degree shift! 
I hope that marginalization stops. I hope that the pressured expectations are extinguished. I hope that we are seen as equal human beings who are not misconceived and marginalized in this patriarchal society. Women of colour should not be looked at as the “unattractive” version of the female species, or the version of humans who are dumbed down or not enough. Rather the complete opposite outlook needs to become normalized. The world needs spice, and women of colour bring it!  We bring that joy and culture, and add strongly to what will in the near future be a world of absolute peace and genuine inclusivity."

  Siwaphiwe (Sweety):

"Being a woman is pain. Being a queer woman of colour, hammers the nail deeper into the pain. The beauty of all of that, is in me knowing thousands of other women of colour in this world are trying to rise above a common struggle. I am not alone. We are all here, in strength and in pain, striving together. And that is what I love about being a woman of colour."


"What I struggle with is the toxic idea that a woman of colour can withstand anything. That idea comes from past pain and trauma that our beautiful mothers had to endure, and it has put immense pressure on a black woman in our age. Society has made it difficult for you to breakdown, to be vulnerable, to exist with any mental disorder. Because when a black woman has depression, bipolar or borderline personality, it is a case of “Oh Tasha? I know Tasha, she one craazzzy hell of a bitch” we were raised to endure pain. That is our biggest struggle in Humanity. "




"My hope for Black women, from youngest to oldest is that they would stop seeing white as the pinnacle of beauty. Light/White is not a standard you should set for yourself in order to be beautiful. You are magical in what ever the colour of your skin. I would love for black women to realise that “ass and titties” is not all that they can bring to the table. We are worth far more than that. The only standard we should have, rather, is to get to the point where the support system amongst ourselves is so strong that generations and generations to come, know no other language."




Raissa:

"to be very honest, it has taken me a very long time to fall in love with myself, but I am finally here and there's no going back. There are so many things that I love about being a woman of colour, but what's number one on my list definitely has to be how resilient we are. we have been put through so much, and every single time, we come out strong. it has been a tough journey, maybe for us all, but I know for sure that it has only created strong women. "






























"I think for me, one
of my struggles has to be that I am supposed to sound or even act a certain way, and if I "act out" there's already a label put on me - it is as if we are supposed to be strong only, we cannot show any other emotion" because we are supposed to be the "strong" one.









Being a woman of colour is a very beautiful thing, even though it's rather tough because of the circumstances of life. I hope that women of colour see how beautiful they are. I hope that our generation breaks this cycle for the future women of colour to know their worth, and not let others tell them, or show them otherwise. we are all doing this healing so that we may be wise grandmother's to divine daughters.




Massive thanks to Sweety, Raissa and Tatum for their beautiful words, and a big thanks to you for taking the time to engage, read and look through this photoblog. I had a lot of fun doing this shoot with them and was really moved by their words. These ladies are genuinely so wonderful! I hope we are left with food for thought, and grow in the way that we see one another.



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