Ven(us)

Western culture has never been kind to Black women. From the tortures of slavery to the fetishization of our bodies, to the restriction of our reproductive rights, to navigating racial profiling and police brutality, survival is the main goal for many of us. Slavery and colonization left behind lasting trauma within the communities they’ve attacked for centuries. My series explores the multiverse of Black femmehood and asks: "what do our lives look like as Black femmes when we're able to explore our wildest imaginations?" Named after the goddess of love, beauty, and sensuality, Ven(us) explores the many facets of Black women. In this, I work with different Black women in my life to create the image of a fantastical and almost surreal world for us to exist most authentically. I want Black women to be viewed in a holistic sense – as vessels of magic that aren't only defined by their service to the world. I hope that Black women of all gender and diasporic identities are recognized as the layered beings that they are when they engage with my work. I made each image in this ongoing series on 120 medium format film.