MELANIN SKIN SERIES

“MELANIN SKIN, is a series that uplifts, encourages, and strengthens our fellow people of color. A community of creatives who showcase the love and beauty for their melanin skin, a reminder that we are not only beautiful physically but in the depths of who we are internally as well.”

– herbeautyspeaks

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JASSIEUO

Jasmine formerly known as JASSIEUO is a multidimensional visionary. One whose work aesthetic speaks volumes to this soul of mine. Her concepts intrigue me deeply and bring forth a hint of minimalism and a dosage of beauty to every visual. I too have fallen in love with the way she views others as well as the world around her. Jassieuo’s simplistic yet breathtaking visions carry an authentic realm of creativity. Whom of which I will cherish and forever admire as inspiration.

Website: jassieuo.com

Instagram

ERICA (LOVEJONESPHOTO)

Erica is a creative whose visuals hold strength and emotion. She is one being who isn’t afraid of breaking the barriers of what an artist should be and therefore produce. Erica allows the eye of self-expression to unfold throughout each story she captures.

Website: lovejonescreative.com

Instagram

SHAWN SMITH (COOLIOFRESSH)

herbeautyspeaks: What is your name? Where are you from? When did you realize that you had a passion for creating art?

My name is Shawn. I am 23 years old. I realized I had a passion for art back in my sophomore year of High school. I took a creative photography class and I fell in love after that. It was like I craved it so much and I still do. It’s beautiful.

herbeautyspeaks: What sparks your inspiration? What do you wish to fulfill throughout your work (the overall message to your supporters and people all over). 

Shawn: Everything sparks my inspiration. It could literally be paint colors, wallpaper or even sunsets. What I want people to know and get out of my art is that it’s fun to be yourself. Be yourself no matter what anyone thinks about it. I kind of branded myself on my “selfies”. I want people to start to love themselves. Enjoy every part of their body.

herbeautyspeaks: What is one thing that you’ve learned throughout your life as an artist as well as a man? Some things that have stuck with you over the years.

Shawn: I learned that everyone isn’t going to like your work and that’s okay. One thing is that I have stayed true to being myself and loving myself no matter what as well as not being afraid to experiment.

Website: www.flickr.com/cooliofressh

Instagram

OJO AGI

herbeautyspeaks: What is your name? Where are you from? When did you realize that you had a passion for creating art?

My name is Ojo and I currently live in Canada’s capital. I’ve been passionate about creating art since I was a child and was always known among family and friends as “the artsy one”.

herbeautyspeaks: What sparks your inspiration? What do you wish to fulfill throughout your work (the overall message to your supporter and people all over).

Ojo Agi: Anything could inspire me to draw, from a song to even just a colour. I hope that people not only enjoy my work visually, but think about it critically. I hope that my work can one day generate discussions, counter negative stereotypes and foster empowerment for women of colour.

herbeautyspeaks: What is one thing that you’ve learned throughout your life as an artist as well as a woman? Some things that you have struck with you over the years.

Ojo Agi: My mom taught me that “nobody has to lose for you to win”. I think that’s a great lesson to learn as an artist and as a woman, especially when we’re often told there is only space for one of us in the room. We can get so competitive, but there’s no reason why everyone can’t win. The more we collaborate, the more we open opportunities for each other and increase our representation in a world that often marginalizes us.

Website: www.ojoagi.com

Instagram

BRANDON PRICE

herbeautyspeaks: What is your name, age? Where are you located?

  My name is Brandon Price. I’m a 23-something photographer from Baltimore, MD

herbeautyspeaks: Which realm of photography is your favorite to shoot?

Brandon: I love simplicity. My favorite realm of photography would just have to be all of it because I appreciate it in its many forms.

herbeautyspeaks: Could you share a few thoughts of what inspires you most…

Brandon: What inspires me is the potential of what everything and everyone has that I could try to expose through my photos.

Instagram

BRITTSENSE

As an artist, I am heavily inspired by the work of others. The captivating and thought provoking collection of photographs that Brittsense creates takes the cake of being one of my top favorites in the game. Her passion and dedication goes unnoticed. She makes sure to bring forth a message of hope, and love throughout every visual that she takes the time out to produce. Brittsense never ceases to amaze the creative being in us all, setting the tones of awareness and strength to her audience while never forgetting where she comes from.

Website: www.brittsense.com

NIK ADAMS

BIO

Nakia (Nik) Adams is the Founder of Womanhood a resource and networking community built for millennial women to be encouraged to live as their true self. Bronx native, Nakia has been living on the Upper Westside for several years. After earning a Degree in Psychology in 2012, she vowed after graduating to dedicate her time giving back. She’s partnered with two growing organizations: Black Girls Code, Care More and Take Care of Harlem, and hopes to continuously be a positive asset to her community.

Artist Statement

With continuous growth and exposure I’ve bloomed into a full mature, outspoken, bright and confident woman. I’ve been very fortunate to be surrounded by women who drive me to create, and bring all of my ideas to life. The Melanin series is one with deep importance. I am a woman. I’m not just a woman I’m a black woman one whose skin carries a great deal of bagged. I created this series to acknowledge and share the complexities of life as a black woman. These images represent struggle, change, passion, desire and love. Pure, yet raw reflections of a black woman.

JASMINE JENKINS (JASZYFRSH)

Jasmine Jenkins mostly known as jaszyfrsh is an artist located in Boston, Massachusetts. One of whom I have come to know and absolutely adore. Her photographic stories embody strength not only as a black woman in today’s society but as well as a creative in all aspects. Jaszyfrsh’s self-portraits have always captured my attention; every image gives me such a sense of rawness and strong emotion, which she makes sure to bring forth as she creates beautiful masterpieces with other amazing souls.

Website: jasminejenkins.com

DEJAH GREENE (GREENEUPHORIAS)

herbeautyspeaks: What is your name?  Where are you from? When did you realize that you had a passion for creating art?

My name is Dejah Greene and I’m from Bowie, Maryland. I think I realized I had a real passion for creating art back when I took my first photography class in 10th grade. I have always loved art and engaging in different forms of art such as painting and drawing but photography definitely became my passion.

    herbeautyspeaks: What sparks your inspiration? What do you wish to fulfill throughout your work (the overall message to your supporters and people all over). 

Dejah: I’m inspired by so much, but human emotions are what really inspire me the most. I’m a people watcher and sometimes I day dream about what life would be like in someone else’s shoes sometimes and that inspires me to look at situations in different perspectives. What I want to fulfill throughout my work right now is self-acceptance. My work is sometimes a form of recovery for myself and a way for black women to realize that they are beautiful regardless of their skin tone, body shape, hair type, etc. I, along with so many other women are still unlearning so many self-hating habits and I just want to continue to help other women on that journey.

herbeautyspeaks: What is one thing that you’ve learned throughout your life as an artist as well as a woman? Some things that have stuck with you over the years.

Dejah: Over the years, I realized that women indeed have to try nearly twice as hard to be heard and respected in society and the art world. But that doesn’t stop be from creating as much as I can. As a black woman, it’s hard sometimes not to let society fuck with your self-esteem and convince you that you’re unworthy. I refuse to let that kind of negative thinking sway me from continuing with my passion.

Raven and Markus set

Raven, IG: Raven_ThIngs

Markus Prime, IG: markusprimelives

Taken at the U.S. Botanical Gardens in Washington D.C.

Steven and African American Apparel set

Steven, IG: melaninboy

Taken in various neighborhoods in Washington D.C.

Dejah Greene Instagram: greeneuphorias

SORAYA

Oh melanin, How I fell in love with you. You were/are an enemy to many. But now most have picked you up and welcome you with open arms. I’ve loved you since day one. I knew you were unique, I knew you were special, so special to love and keep. You symbolize such strong and powerful things, Beauty, power, confidence, and strength. Melanin I apologize for those who fail to recognize your beauty. I apologize for those that are ashamed to embrace you. It’s unfortunate, they’re blind to the blessing they have been given. But maybe one day they’ll realize what they have been blessed with and start living.

Melanin written by Soraya

Twitter

BRYANNA BROWNSTONE (TheyLovetheAfro)

Melanin

Melanin, how I’ve neglected you for so long. For so long I looked at my melanin as something less than a badge of honor. For so long I believed that I wasn’t enough compared to my lighter brothers and sisters. For so long not wanting to look in the mirror because I couldn’t accept me for me. When all those years I should’ve looked at myself as a beautiful black Queen.

It’s funny how people can change your perceptive about yourself. Both my mother and my younger sister are much lighter than I am and they never brought up skin tone in a conversation. I was comfortable, I was at ease. It was once I got into middle school and high school I felt that stigma of being dark skin. When people lighter than me and even having the same skin tone as me would tease me because of that. I was very much confused because it was the first time being exposed to something like that. So naturally as a young kid/teen, I tried to conform, I tried to be something I wasn’t so people could forget about me being dark skin and focus on me being “cool” with them. It didn’t work of course, because when you’re not comfortable in your skin, it shows. So I stuck to what I knew best, stay quiet and to yourself to avoid confrontation. It took a long time for me to accept all of me, mainly my melanin.

I didn’t appreciate my melanin. I found myself wishing I was lighter, wishing I looked like my younger sister, wishing that I wasn’t me. That was a major problem. Not realizing until I was older how messed up my thought process was. How I let my peers and society lead me to believe I’m not beautiful enough. I was fragile, so prone to believing the negatives about myself. Something had to change and that something had to come from within.

Towards the end of my high school career till now, I have to say are my most prosperous years, with everything. I kept a certain quote in mind, a quote I will never get tired of repeating to myself and others. “Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose & the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to? So much so that you don’t want to be around each other? … you should ask yourself WHO TAUGHT YOU TO HATE BEING WHAT GOD MADE YOU.” With that in mind, me looking within and finally coming to terms that I am not what anyone says I am, I began to love myself.

My melanin, my God given melanin, how I would never trade it for the world. How I can look at my younger sister and mom, see the beauty in them, but also seeing that same beauty in me. My melanin, how I’m so comfortable with the beauty in it, and how no one’s opinion on it could change the way I feel. I finally released the negative energy that was surrounded me when I was younger and now I can look in the mirror proud to say my black is beautiful.

Blog | FreeMindSoulNotForSale.wordpress.com

Social | Instagram:TheyLovetheAfro | Twitter: TheyLovetheAfro

ESOSA NORUWA

MAMA AFRICA

Mama Africa, Oh how I love you so, you taught me everything I know. Mama Africa, oh how many have spoken badly of you, yet deep down inside, I know exactly who you are to me, you are a beautiful gem; one that is rare to some, but plentiful to those who know who you truly are. Mama Africa, everything that you are sends chills down my spine, Mama Africa; everything that you are resembles strength and ever-lasting beauty. A beauty that can never be replaced, a beauty that will forever be within me, one that will last for a lifetime beyond you and me.

Mama Africa written by herbeautyspeaks

Visuals shot by Esosa Noruwa

Instagram of Esosa: afrikkah_

MELANIN EMPRESS

They treat my skin as a disadvantage. My hair untreated resembles a lion. And for that, I am fierce. My attitude, they say is bossy. And for that, I am strong. Weak men can’t deal with it. They’d rather someone submissive. And I’m sorry, I won’t ever be that. I am punished for having my own mind. They call me hard headed, because I like to do things for myself. They call me independent like it’s a bad thing. Assaults against my melanin, when will it end.

Written by Melanin Empress

Instagram: melaninempress

HERBEAUTYSPEAKS

excuse me, while I say I surely don’t discriminate but there’s something so profound about the shade of brown that makes the lines of my mind go insane, there’s something about that beautiful melanin skin, that makes my heart skip a few beats and my soul shake. there’s something about it, I can’t quite put a finger on it, but I believe you of melanin decent have many stories to share and many memories to create. You of melanin skin, have won my heart, completely without the need of truly having to do much, just let me take in all that you are, in admiration of the tremendous ability that you carry to quickly make me fall to my knees, you of melanin skin raise the galaxies up from beneath me, you of melanin skin, bring chills and instant quivers to the being of which I am in, you of melanin skin keep being you, because quite frankly I don’t need you to do or be anything else, I just want you to be, be full of beauty, full of integrity, full of strength, be you with every intent, unapologetically.

Melanin Skin written by herbeautyspeaks

NYASIA ELIE

I pray to God to cleanse my sins

Wipe away the dirt from my filthy lens,

Lather me down from head to toe

Rain on me until I am soaked.

Are you listening ?

My innocence has been distorted.

My temple no longer holds a rare gem.

I am thirsty, so thirsty,

I beg to divinities

I offer you a dove for my purity.

Tears of dragon blood for my protection ,

Drown me so I emerge sacred,

and my soul protected.

A tainted vessel,

May I see better days in these

hazy times.

Amen.

A Prayer for All Tainted Souls written by Nyasia Elie

LOVESIMPLESTCOMPLEXITY

can i be honest?

it look me 20 years to know how to truly love myself. it sounds crazy as hell, but it’s pretty factual. it takes some people less than that to love themselves.. believe it or not, it even takes some people more* than that to love themselves if God willing they still push to keep surviving. i’m not counting years in between because honestly that’s too much to try and remember. and that love i may have had for myself back then could’ve been the love i was reaching out for from other people & whatever love they knew & had, i tried to gain it. whatever they lacked i found out the hard way to be left or leave them alone.. i had to learn that the love i provide for MYSELF & myself FIRST, is the love that can radiate towards others – family, friends, associates, acquaintances, strangers, even enemies; and even with all of them, they require different kinds of love and i probably didn’t know or realize how many times i’d mix them up or not show it at all.

but 20 years later, or a year later from 19 as i was losing myself.. i needed a way out. a way out of the pain, confusion, anxiety, insecurities, feelings of inferiority, and everything negative that tried to drain me of my goodness. pretending to be okay, only to let my problems and fears eating me alive. things and people who sucked up my positive energy, only to leave me with a fearful mentality and negative energy. for the past 2 years i have learned a lot. what the true meaning of depression is.. how real it is and how tragic it can become if its self diagnosed. it is not something to take lightly let alone joke about. something so “miniature” to others is huge to those suffering from it. I thank God i did not hit a stage of clinical depression, but by God i’m not lying when i say i was pretty close to it.

losing yourself makes you feel like you don’t know where else to go and because it’s a whirlwind of which direction you should take, you become stagnant. you become drained. hopeless and helpless. you pretend things are okay when they’re really not. you look to others and the carnal things to fill all your voids and it’s painful. you feel as though you don’t have purpose. you’re never satisfied. you feel as if you don’t deserve the love & acceptance your real loved ones give you genuinely; and yet, with what they give you feel like it’s not enough or isn’t real. so you push them away. and not all of them stay, either. and at the end of the day, you’re still dealing with you. only you. the person you’re trying to figure out, but that person doesn’t seem to want to step up & claim the body it’s living in..

and as tragic as that all sounds, i’ve been that person. that person who would feel like i’m loving too hard and it was too much. or that i’m not loving enough. that i’m not a good friend. or a good person.. that person who felt there’s too much to live for or nothing to live for. but now that person is a part of who i am & who i’m becoming. i know what it feels like to not know how to love myself & have that reflect on my relationships. i even know what it’s like to be talked down upon & told i’m not lost, i’m just being reckless and ignorant. and now looking back? I LOVE MYSELF. I FREAKING LOVE MYSELF FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. I LOVE WHO I’M BECOMING. WHO I’M DESTINED TO BE. my confidence has risen higher than it ever has before, but this time it’s covered in humility. i am confident for me. right now and continuing on, i am doing things for me. for my self-worth. for my self-respect. for my integrity. for all of me, internally. i deserve what i’m giving myself now, that i wasn’t capable of giving myself for the past year and a half. i’m still finding pieces of me, flaws and all that i love. because they are me. i still have more to love, but i have time to love all that i can.

with that said, i hope and pray for all of those who are suffering.. who have just lost themselves; who are still losing themselves.. those who feel worthless and undeserving, who don’t feel loved or appreciated. those who don’t think they have anything to live for. those who want to easy ways out of this. you guys can get through it. you are gems. you deserve your peace of mind, your clarity, your confidence. you deserve love & appreciation. it’s not easy to get out of this mentality; this state of mind. but i promise you, just like anyone else who has suffered from it & even those who haven’t, but are empathetic about it, you will get through it. you will learn to love yourself & cherish yourself. you will let happiness run through your veins from internal peace. no man on earth will give you the happiness you can find from within. keep going, gems. it will be worth it and your story will make a difference.

this is my story.

– lovesimplestcomplexity

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TANAE B.

Dear Young Black Girl

Young woman, don’t know who you are. The tanned skinned goddess, you are picture of perfection.The way your hips sway anatomy fit to only hold Kings in between them. Never to be touch by anyone less than kingdom. Your hair reaches dimensions that were thought to be impossible. You’re unstoppable, you’re strong, you’re educated, you’re eloquent, you’re delicate, yet a little feisty, you’re stylish, You’re a Queen almighty, You are a black woman.

Dear Young Black Girl written by Brittanii Batts (Tanae B.)

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