When planning a photoshoot, the first thing that a model asks me is “What do I wear?”  the usual answer for a question of this nature would be something specific such as, “something green”.  For this series the answer was simpler than that.  I told my models to wear something that makes them feel confident, sexy or comfortable, because omitting everything else that is the purpose of this body of work.  I wanted to give woman of color a chance to see themselves the way it took me a long time to see myself.  Using the smoke to give them the freedom to exist in their own world, redirecting their attention from the camera so that they could be themselves.

Society has stripped woman of color of their pride in themselves for years; causing them to straighten hair that begs to grow towards the sun, bleach skin that resembles the beautiful bark of the trees that sustain human life on earth and hide cultures that are rich with music, color and history.  Even I grew up believing a number of these misconceptions and my many new life experiences have taught me that there is a pride in being me, a woman of color, in any stage of evolution that I may be in.  The media, society, and those unaffected by this internal struggle caused by external forces, have no say in this journey of self-love.

The definition of “sfumato” in fine art is “a painting technique for softening the transition between colors, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on.”  My goal with Sfumato was to use the smoke to bring viewers’ eye past what it usually focuses on, and to look deeper than formal exploration of the image, and to truly see the naked beauty of each woman of color for who she is, not what she’s expected to be.  The frames are a significant symbol in the show as well.  The smoke as an element created a unique pattern in each photo, and I wanted the frames to be no different.  Each frame is upcycled, thrifted and renovated.  Every frame has minor flaws but, they still complete the show in a beautiful way.  The result is a magical and unifying series with plenty of room for growth.