99.9 % Black

The artist subverts the language of blackface minstrelsy to reflect the lack of darker skin role models of beauty. Darker skin has always been used to denigrate, mock, and weaponize Black people. Changing the skin tone of Black celebrities to 99.9% black pigment, allowed the artist to explore colorism in Hollywood, the one drop rule from miscegenation laws, and the lack of dark skin role models in the artist's childhood. Editors note: this project was made in 2010 during the Post-Black art movement when artists were pushing back against the notion that racism no longer existed because America had a Black president.