The internet is obsessed with these South Sudanese beauties
What happens when four gorgeous South
Sudanese women gather to eat breakfast dressed monochromatically in all
white and are photographed? It creates a stir on social media.
The
creative director and photographer behind this artistic shoot is Isaac
West. He tells Yahoo Style, “as a conceptual photographer I am more into
uplifting women of color, to show the different beauty and different
shades of color of women, especially black women,” he says. “For this
project I wanted to just do dark skinned women, that was my main focus.”
West
shot the photographs in Minneapolis, where he lives now, and recruited
South Sudanese women who live in the area to sit for the shoot. He chose
to dress them in all-white outfits to provide the most contrast against
the models’ gorgeous skin.
West
and the models got together at 11 in the morning to take the pictures,
and didn’t pretend to have breakfast, they actually had breakfast. “I
wanted them eating together, to show their oneness and their sisterhood
and that there’s no division, only friendship and love.” He calls it
the, “Simple love of togetherness.”
While
West now lives in Minnesota he is originally from Liberia. He left
Liberia for Ghana due to the country’s civil war, and then in the mid
2000s came with his family to the U.S.
West
says he draws his creativity from his heritage and his purpose is to
highlight and bring more representation of women of color to the media,
especially in art and fashion. West is also a fashion designer, and is
currently enrolled in college where he is studying TV production and
art.
The
photo shoot has only been online for a few days but has already
received thousands of likes and comments, almost all of them offering
praise.
“Look
at all this beauty. Thanks sisters for staying true to your color. I
always see it shining through,” one commenter wrote. Another commenter
added, “Everything about this picture is gold.”
How are people this beautifully pigmented though😍😍😍.— Nkagisang Sebogodi (@Nkagisang_S) September 6, 2017
Friday Chuol, 24, one of the models in photo shoot, yells Yahoo Style of her decision to participate, “I
decided to be a part of it because if I can show that I am dark
skinned without apology. This may impact a little girl who’s struggling
to find beauty in herself. I want to show the girls that look like myself, to embrace their inner and outer beauty.
“I
still can’t believe the attention it’s gotten but you can’t deny that
the photos send an incredible message to dark skinned girls worldwide,”
Chuol says. “I love it.”
As
for what the future holds for West, “I have my sights on big names I
want to collaborate with,” he says. Which artists might those be?
“Rihanna, Solange, and Yeezy.” All eyes on you, Mr. West.
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome