I always wanted a sister and now I have 20! I was so excited to be asked to take part in the WOM Collective all female 1st Anniversary Graffiti Jam. I turned up early Sunday morning at Allen Gardens. I knew a lot of the artists already and met lots of new ones too. This was quite something to see all women at the walls. The graffiti and street art world can be a bit male dominated sometimes! But it’s all good I like them too! 🙂

The most beautiful pieces were painted and the vibe was full on good vibes! I painted a piece to highlight the #unfairandlovely campaign and colourism. It is a backlash to the phrase ‘fair and lovely’ associated with light skinned asian and black women as a superior ‘commodity’ to darker skinned aka ‘unfair’ women.

History defines beauty and worth. Colonialism, slavery and stereotypes of dark is poor, wealthy is white sees colourism propelled by a multi billion dollar skin whitening industry with Unilever and L’Oréal at the helm.

Like all discrimination, colourism permeates every area of life. Women risk health for light skin in a world where higher dowrys are paid to grooms to ‘compensate’ for darker skinned brides. Dark skinned women are also less likely to find employment. @lupitanyongo outed the Hollywood industry for colourism, reporting she was told she was too dark for the screen. Photos are edited to make models lighter – or white models are used in appropriation. Children do not see role models who look like them which depletes self worth and the cycle begins again.

However over the last few years darker skinned women have been actively disrupting this long standing misogynistic racist system and celebrating darker skin tones.

Just to be clear ‘Unfair and Lovely’ is not about being pretty or not pretty but about the value of a life.