“Though the brown paper bag test is antiquated and frowned upon as a shameful moment in African-American history, the ideals behind the practice still lingers in the African-American community” — Rivea Ruff
Artist Statement
After looking at the work of Carrie Mae Weems and the way her work correlated to her past experiences I began to play closer attention to myself and use my experiences in order to create a more personal body of work that revealed me not as an artist, but a person. This semester I found that I have faced the strongest battle of finding and defining myself; and this body of work displayed my exploration. Growing up I found myself facing an internal struggle of trying to define whom I was. We are always told “to never judge a book by its cover”, but I commonly faced being judged and criticized based on my appearance. Being a “light skinned” African American woman and having a twin sister who was “much darker” I noticed how we were both treated differently in the same circumstances. I wanted to explore Shadeism, the discrimination based on the shade of your skin, and the loss of identity where the stereotypic criticism and words of others construct and structure the reflection of yourself. I began speaking to different individuals within different ethnicities and genders about this issue where they expressed experiences they had or didn’t have. I aimed to reveal this concept by displaying eight 20”x30” black & white prints, where my models were placed in between two mirrors, where their reflections was a personal confrontation within themselves, while they confronted the audience with personal statements written on brown paper bags that depicted the stereotypic criticism they have faced. I incorporated the “brown paper bag test” within this series, which was a test that was used to classify individuals based on the shade of their skin in comparison to the color of a brown paper bag. I accompanied my installation with two mirrors on each side of my presentation in order for the audience themselves to not participate but to become involved with the personal struggle that each model faced within this process, of your reflection based on the words of others vs your own personal reflections of yourself.
"Why should the color of my skin matter? _Caucasion _African American _Other"
"Whatever happened to one love?"
"Why do people assume my complexion speaks for my personality????"
"You're Not A Real Nigger"
"Why do I got to be pretty for a Dark Skin Girl? What does my shade have to do with it?"
"My Skin Is Too Light To Be African"
"People say I need to tan because I'm too PALE"
"What if I told you I was not good at math?"
"There's too many skin lightening products for you to not be light skinned...to be whiter"
"We would be best friends if you appreciated color"
"People say that I'd be 'prettier' with relaxed hair!!!"
Final Portfolio Installation below:
(prints were 20″ x 30″)
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