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the black lipstick project
The only reason why I thought of wearing Black lipstick in the first place is because of one of my favorite artists, KeiyaA. She is soooo talented and her music makes me feel so proud to be a Black femme and when I noticed that she wears black lipstick I wanted to too. As I was warming to the idea of black lipstick (because it was a notion that I too had to warm to), I believed I saw Erykah Badu wear black lipstick. Since, I can’t find photo or video evidence, but trust she did. So two of my icons wearing black lipstick was more than enough for me to want to wear it. I felt so drawn to the idea of wearing/doing something that I knew wouldn’t be viewed as desirable to the masses. I feeli like I’ve spent so much of my life trying to tweak my appearance to be desirable or palatable to men or women or white people and my black lipstick is kind of saying fuck you and fuck that. To wear black lipstick is to thrust a middle finger up at the white-centric beauty ideals. I’m like fuck a respectability politic. I want to unsettle and confuse people with my presentation. with my black lipstick i am uninterested in mkaing someone else comfortable. maybe black lipstick will make me smile less. the kind of smile to comfort white folks. it’ll be better for me to smile like that less.
this project is simple: wear black lipstick and document what it looks like but also how I feel/any interactions about it/how I’m recieved
it’s impossible to know that the lipstick would be the reason why someome would treat me differently. I already have my Black skin for that anyway LOL. this project is more for me to understand and work through someone of my own idelas surrounding desirability