Brown University students produced an inspiring photo series in order to showcase the beauty in black women’s bodies for a Women’s History Month exhibit.
Jo’Nella Queen Ellerbe, 22, Jacinta Lomba, 20, and Taylor Michael, 20, created the photo project titled "Eminence" to "replace society's negative perceptions of black women with messages of empowerment and control," according to the Huffington Post.
“All the images that we see of women of color... we over-sexualize, fetishize and [eroticize] them,” Jo'Nella Queen Ellerbe, 22, said. “[We] don’t really have control of those images.”
The project consists of images of words and phrases written on the backs of from across the African diaspora photographed by Taylor Michael.
“I just thought a lot about women’s backs and how I feel like women of color, especially black women, their backs hold both a burden and a lightness,” Ellerbe told The Huffington Post. "I think [it's] a release and a breath of air when we get to show ourselves the way we want to be seen.”
View photos from the project below.
Photos: Taylor Michael
