Melanated: Beautiful Black People is a portrait series designed to promote positive images of children of the African diaspora. I intend to counter problematic media narratives that typically portray Black people as monolithic and/or heterosexual. Black People with more traditional African features are underused and undervalued in mainstream American media; the few people who do receive visibility typically aren’t permitted to be glamorous. Additionally, I often find myself asking, “Who is allowed to claim blackness?” LGBTQIA+, atypical phenotypes, and racially-ambiguous are excluded from the conversation. “Afro” hyphens, such as Afro-Latinx, just recently began to receive mainstream exposure in the realm of Blackness.

I created these portraits to combat that type of iconography. I want to build a platform for the Black and Brown bodies that I see every day; those bodies that may not be on the magazine covers but are just as beautiful and stunning. I include Ankara prints in my photos to pay homage to Africa and my African ancestors. Like the Ankara prints, African descendants come in many shapes, colors, and designs. Blackness is not a monolith. All Black is beautiful. As a personal rule, I will photograph any black person willing to sit for me. All African descendants are “Beautiful Black People,” and all Black People are worthy of being photographed for Melanated