Who says Black beauty only has one definition? An aspiring doctor gathered some friends for a photoshoot meant to embrace the beauty of Blackness and folks are taking notice. Sameria Gbieor, a 20-year-old nursing student, told Yahoo UK she was inspired to do a body-positive shoot after seeing “a beautiful picture” of four Black women on Instagram.
“No matter your size or your color, we are all beautiful,” Gbieor said in a Thursday, Nov. 2 article. “If we weren’t different from everyone else, then we would all be the same, which is kinda boring. … What I wanted to get out there to my dark-skinned sisters is to love yourself. Once you love yourself, amazing things start to happen.”
She commissioned up-and-coming photographer Tolulope Gangbo for the sexy spread, which includes eight women wearing black lingerie. The Independent reported Gbieor was attracted to Gangbo because he doesn’t edit out “imperfections” like stretch marks. However, not everyone Gbieor contacted felt comfortable to bare herself in front of the camera.
“I contacted about four girls about [Mercy Dorbor’s] size and they didn’t feel comfortable enough to be in the shoot. But Mercy came through, slayed, and left with confidence,” Gbieor told Yahoo.
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“The beauty of Black women is truly effortless,” Dorbor, a plus size model, wrote on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BafkylNjB8d/?taken-by=m.erc.y_d
And it wasn’t just size and skin tone that the shoot boosted. Gbieor wanted to showcase the diversity of natural hair too, which is part of what Ahnna Anderson wants people to focus on.
“I want people to see the usual ‘outcast’ as beautiful — seeing dark women with natural hair and long twists being seen as beautiful and sexy.”
It’s clear from the photographer’s comments section that social media is eating up the pics.
“Woww of wowwwwwwwwwww,” wrote one user. “I feel like I should’ve been in this photo, beautiful queens,” wrote another.
