I’m working to give Black aesthetics their space. Part of the issue of appropriation is when people are not named or given credit. The New Black Vanguard is a naming project. Every hair stylist, makeup artist, every person is credited, so you can come back and say, actually, that’s this person’s work, this person thinks this way. When you write yourself into the canon, there’s no way you can be erased.
Because the next question is always: who profits from this work? Who profits from using your name? Your art?
We’d be kidding ourselves if we weren’t honest about the fact that if Vogue had the opportunity to continue doing exactly what they’ve been doing for the last 126 years, they would have done so. The public is demanding more of art institutions, and they’re no longer accepting the gatekeeper’s ideas of what beauty is.
