The Big Layout on Colorism

To all that contributed their stories to my colorism project, I just wanted to show you all what I was able to put together with all your wonderful text. Looking at this image it's hard to define the scale but it's a 40x60 magazine spread on the affects of colorism. After I put together this piece, I found a recent article in Bookforum entitled Voices Carry by writer Lawrence Hill that pretty much sums up the relevance  of this approach.He quotes Henry Louis Gates in his review of Andrew Ward's The Slave's War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves. He quotes Gates' theory that "life stories" are the most important statement a black author can make to illustrate the African-American experience, and the tradition of story-telling in the African-American community. Magazines are ways inwhich ideas are communicated, and shared. So in this piece I choose to display the stories that were contributed as a artistic approach of publishing the need of voices to speak and expose the pain that the issues of colorism has caused. I was very amazed and blown away by all of the stories, particularly because most of the people here have a close connection to me whether a childhood friend or family member. It was amazing that eventhough we all held close relationships we never were able to communicate this sort of inner turmoil, yet at the same time coming to grips and loving ourselves all at the same time. It's truly remarkable. I believe that this piece also address the idea of publishing as a platform where people feel either comfortable or uncomfortable about expressing their opinions and thoughts. Please let me know what you think.