Entre Pretos: Photo Shoot Values Self-Esteem of Black People
Note from BW of Brazil: When people claim that racism or white supremacy doesn’t exist or that it once did but no longer exists, this belief tells that they are either strongly in denial, don’t understand the plight of black people, know it but can’t admit it or truly don’t know how white supremacy works. And one of the most effective tools of white supremacy is the mental endoctrination of subjected peoples which often times undermines the possibility of blacks rising up against their oppression. If you have your enemy defeated mentally and psychologically, you’ve already defeated him/her before the battle even becomes physical. A feeling of inferiority continues to dominate the psyches of many Africans and their descendants to this very day.
We’ve seen an incredible rise in the self-esteem of a large percentage of the black Brazilian population in recent years. More black people are strongly identifying with their blackness, accepting and wearing their natural kinky/curly hair, calling for the practice of black money and even expressing the necessity of black love. They are all important elements in the process of breaking mental chains that remain on colonized minds. Yes, there has indeed been progress, but when people continue to believe that beauty is only a thing of white people, we know the struggle continues. A new imagery of the people must be constructed in the minds. Yes, black is beautiful, but only when black people themselves realize it. Which is why the work of black photographers of conscious is needed more than ever.
Photo shoot values self-esteem of black people
By Thais Bernardes
With the aim of extolling black beauty and valuing the acceptance of one’s own body, a group of women decided to set up a collective and conduct free photo shoots with only black people.
Thus was born “Entre Pretos”, meaning ‘between black people’, in August 2017, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1 years and 3 months of existence, the project has photographed more than 100 people, of all genders and ages.
“Many of the people photographed didn’t feel beautiful, they thought that the standard of beauty was that of the white. When they met with other blacks during the shoots, they started to see how beautiful they were and understood that people have to see them as they are. Nobody needs to lighten to get attention,” explains the photographer and journalist Gabriela Alves, creator of the project.
(@projetoentrepretos). No fee is charged for photo shoots that normally have 12 participants:
“We provide five individual photos of each model and three in group. “Totaling eight photos for each person who does the shoot,” explains Gabriela.
The collective, which is preparing to act as an agency for black models, has the support of partner companies that give pieces of their brands for photo shoots and have their products published by the photos for the project.
Source: Notícia Preta
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