Faculty of Design

Illustration

Ene Agi

Disappointed

DISAPPOINTEDIn 2017, Lupita Nyong’o made an Instagram post expressing disappointment after her kinky hair was edited out of a magazine cover for Grazia UK. This is reminiscent of countless other experiences of digital tampering, restriction, and rejection of black women’s natural and cultural hairstyles, including cases with Solange Knowles (Evening Standard), Gabrielle Union (America’s Got Talent), and Zendaya (Fashion Police). When these women speak out eloquently about these offenses and their cultural historical significance, they often receive comments that they are overreacting and being needlessly oppositional. Disappointed addresses the dominance of European beauty standards and the erasure of African features in the media.