PAINTINGS FOR A LITTLE BROWN GIRL (2019)
My neighbour aunty yells from her kitchen window to her grand-daughter who is gleefully playing near the swimming pool - "Get out of the sun!! Come back inside!! You'll get darker!" As kids do, the grand daughter doesn't budge immediately. But in a few minutes, once the words settled, she hesitantly goes back into her house. These painting are for her. To remind her that the sun rises and sets on her skin and there's nothing wrong with that. The darker the colour, the richer her skin.
The more you look at your reflection on the mirror, the more it will reflect what society expects you to see. Do not pay heed. Your body and your skin are yours and yours alone. Protect it, cherish it, love it.
Look at how beautiful dark skin looks on women around you. They call us brown people because the it's how we stand out in the world. They may deem us unfair, but I promise you they can't conquer a confident dark skinned woman who doesn't give a damn about what they have to say.
Dark colours have always been beautiful - just as any other colour. History and conquests and oppression tried to manipulate that fact to divide and conquer - to separate us and them. But look, these colours are everywhere. The star-anise is a spice that is elegant and yet so flavoursome. Nobody deems its worth on its colours.
I promise you, you are beautiful. I knew a girl a long time ago who tried to scrub her skin to peel of the darkness that settled on her skin -- to no avail, of course. She spent so much time of her life determining her beauty and her worth by the colour of her skin. She heard it through out her life that fair is lovely. But she's grown now and she's determined to topple the narrative along with many other dark skinned women who are doing the same. Join this warfare my dear. We'd all be dark skinned beauties walking hand in hand with our smiles and self acceptance as our weapons.
Imagine a world where the aroma of coffee didn't exist. If the truth was that dark isn't beautiful and has no value, then we'd have to go to extreme measures to live by it. How different can humans and coffee beans be if colour is the determiner of worth? And would you really want coffee to be anything but coffee?
Find yourself dark skinned women to look up to - individuals who are magnificent because of the work they do and for being unstoppable. The ones who don't cater to people's expectation of what beauty should be. The ones who hold their head up high that they leave their critics rattling. Look up to women who have already laid out a path for you and me to walk on. Strive to be as incredible as them and maybe even pave a path for somebody else who might need them just like you do.
Colour maybe one way they try to ordain people as appealing and unappealing. But believe me, there are many other ways too. Peculiarities or differences can seem intimidating to some people. And I am sure you may be peculiar and odd in your own quirky way. And it may seem like it's not everybody's cup of tea because not a lot of people have the courage to embrace something new - something different. And even if you don't always feel ordinary, know that black roses exist in a world full of red roses, and they are deemed extraordinary.
