Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"Brown Paper Bag"

Wrapping up my Spring 2013 quarter at SCAD Atlanta with this series.
Enjoy.




Brown Paper Bag


Tat Tvam Asi
“I am that, you are that,
all this is that, and that’s all that there is.”


Preexisting notions have deemed nicknames within the black community: high yellow, redbone, caramel, light bright, mocha-latte, blue- black, and the brown paper bag. Within the African American culture, we constrict one another to specific marginalized groups regardless of responses to the set terminology. Brown Paper Bag represents the ranges of skin tones within the African American genealogy. Being constantly analyzed as to what ethnicity I am, I have been chastised for not being black enough to be black. Because of this, most of my upbringing I had felt like less than that of a black woman. Known by the black community as light bright, the insignia seems to be my lifelong escort based strictly on my uncommon melanocyte count. Witnessing issues, such as class conflict, develop from mediocre disputes arbitrated by skin tone, has continued to separate and segregate us based purely on an individual’s appearance. I am unique in my own skin, even under a kindred umbrella. One should not be reduced to surface value, but admired based on their core.


-Stephanie Eley

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Special shout out and thanks to all of my models who made this work possible!



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