ORIGINAL ART |MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS

Original | Size 26W x 35.4H inches | Mixed media (upcycled paper, cloth) and oil on canvas. Inspected and hand signed by Nukwase Tembo | Year 2019.

• with Certificate of Authenticity

ART DESCRIPTION

Skin bleaching is a big problem in many African countries. According to the World Health Organization statistics in 2011, 40% of African women bleach their skin.

“Whiteness has been elevated and presented as a universal standard of progress. When people say it’s about whiteness, it’s not necessary to physically be white; it’s about wanting to access things white people have easy access to—privileges, economic and social status.”- Mtero

Skin lightening in Africa is not a new phenomenon. It has been around for decades. In most African cultures, people associate beauty with skin color; the lighter you are, the more beautiful and higher chance of getting married, which is another factor that driving the increasing rate of hyperpigmentation in African women.

The hand in this piece holding both women with different skin tones with the string symbolizes that the idea of colorism comes from colonization.

There is still a lot of work to be done, especially with the media, to free ourselves from this web of entanglement around skin color and beauty as African women.

STATUS

SOLD