Black femmes are always in a constant dance with the dehumanization they face and the willingness of others to place them inside the confines of stereotypes rather than see them as individuals.

This piece was inspired from an exchange with a family member about a black makeup tutorial artist. They were shaming a black female makeup artist for using makeup to deceive and questioning her ability to obtain traditional employment. I called them out on their misogynoir and they displayed even worse projections of misogyny. That exchange made me think about the small scope they were placing on the makeup artist and later me when I voiced an opinion on it. Both within and outside of the black community there is a problem of limiting the capacity of black women to archetypes in order to control, not only the agency and narrative of black women’s choices and lives, but also to inflate the ego of those perpetuating this narrative. This practice is pervasive and exists within a constant cycle of denial and un-examined misogynoir.

Using cosmetics and cultural visual language, the archetypes of the Mammy, the Sapphire, and the Jezebel were recreated. Using stop motion pixelization animation, the archetypes are applied to my face by an invisible external force. I repeatedly remove the makeup to reveal my bare face only to have it replaced with a different archetype and the cycle continues. The makeup from each archetype was then wiped onto makeup removal wipes in the shape of African Violets.