friends pt 1:
This series focuses on portraiture to represent black, indigenous, and people of color. The series works towards the representation of BIPOC and to convey expression of individuals in the community. The portraits are captured moments of the individuals expressing their personality and style. They also express emotions of distress, anger, passion, and vulnerability from BIPOC towards the social problems in society that target these groups.
What influenced me to create this series is issues of racism that are still in our society and the system of the country. Not only discrimination of color or race but also sexuality, gender, etc, as well as other problems in our society. It is important to me as an artist use my voice to talk about these problems that still exist and are not progressing quick enough. What is also inspirational is the passion of individuals to fight for change and progression.
The representation of BIPOC and creating images that people can relate to is also a significant influence on the series. As a woman of color, growing up and seeing the lack of representation in the media impacted my self-esteem and comfort with my body and even with culture. I wanted to create a series that comfort BIPOC and express inclusivity and diversity of the individuals.