We, the Indians, have a huge fetish for fair skin. Beauty tips to make skin fairer, ranging from home made haldi packs to cosmetic remedies in the name of skin whitening products and cosmetic medical treatments to de-melanin, is not far-fetched. However, the ground reality is, India –being a tropical country- majority of Indians are dark in complexion. Still, matrimonial ads feature ‘fair bride’ as desired qualification.
A recent photo series campaign, Unfair and Lovely, has been launched by a 21 year old black student, Pax Jones, at University of Texas. The campaign features two of her south Asian friends, sisters Mirusha and Yanusha Yograjah. Pax Jones states that her aim, through this campaign, is to combat colourism and under representation of colored people in media. The sisters agreed to become part of the campaign as they were acutely aware of the fact how colourism is rampant within the south Asian community.
In our country, there have been movements like Dark is Beautiful, championing dark skin tones and rejecting whitening products, for some time. Top actresses like Kangana Ranaut, have refused to endorse skin whitening products. The recent campaign is certainly a major boost promoting debate and discussions around this topic.
The hit photo series of Pax Jones has inspired hashtag #Unfairandlovely promoting dark skinned people to put their photos on social media, generating lively discussions on it.
The pictures are opulent in their glory revealing power behind them. Take a look!
