Lyric Prince Harris
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Zooming in on "Beauty"

2/24/2021

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I honestly didn’t realize the true appearance of my face until my photographer partner, David Harris, shot it a month ago. Contrasted with my iPhone selfie, it looks like a completely different person, when it’s really just a different camera.

The selfie is from an aprox. 22mm lenses, while the bodypainted shot was done with an 85mm, which is also about the same focal length that a human eye can see. I stared at the 85 mm for hours, just wondering how I didn’t realize that I actually looked like this, that my mirror wasn’t lying to me after all.

And I still struggle-to not criticize myself. To say that my nose is fine, instead of it’s damaged by a childhood accident and it’s too big. That my skin, with its spots, is still beautiful. That I am enough. That I am worthy.

For anyone reading this, as a femme, Black, and disenfranchised by any of the million ways that America fights against you...I see you. You are beautiful. You are valid. And the only thing that really matters is how well you can actually see yourself. And sometimes, you need friends and those who love you to hold up a mirror. As for those who can’t see your true face, and never can, then leave them in the dust. Your perspective is valid. And theirs, with this deliberate misunderstanding of who you really are, is not.

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Ain't The "King" a "Woman"?

2/17/2021

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Sometimes, the “king” is a “woman.” Also, what exactly is a “single mother”? When you really think about it, does that phrase even make sense?

One of the most healing things I’ve ever learned, from Yoruba sociologist Oyeronke Oyewumi (pictured below) is that the term “single mother” is nonsense, because the mother’s role in matrifocal Africa is defined by the existence of her child, not through the presence of her sex partner. I wish I knew that when I grew up with my own mother, who raised me with the help of family and the grace of God.

Another thing I’ve learned is that with the cultures I profiled, frequently, “the king was a woman.” In other words, hierarchy, not gender, denoted rank. And gender itself? It defined reproductive roles, but little else.

In the slideshow above, you see Oyewumi, a dyad from the #APerfectPower show (which was possibly made by an artist named Kaseya Tambwe Makumbi) and some of my thoughts in between about the show itself.

I hope that I will continue to learn about the people, gods, and countries that I briefly discuss in this review. Thanks to Rebekah Kirkman and Cara Ober for editing. 
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Photos from social media networks, publicly available on Instagram.com.
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Before/After Photo- of What?

2/3/2021

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Can you tell what I’ve altered?

If you can/can't, that's the point. Since you weren’t a part of making this image, you can't see it all like me*, or how the photographer David Harris can. The same problem/solutions exist with rituals and ancestral memory, I think. What to keep? What was thrown away by colonialism, internal pressure, or just through the passage of time itself? Or are these things from our past sometimes erased to make things better?

I have yet to see an African art show that addresses any of these questions. So, to make do, I’ve decided on piecing together a recreation of my own-is one side all original? All fake? Hard to say. I won’t pretend that I have any of the Orishas’ blessings with this, but I did pray for ancestral guidance before this shoot. I hope that’s enough.

I just started a new page, just for this project http://www.lyricprince.com/wapapo.html). Enjoy.

*Yes, I said what I said 😉

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    Artist by way of academic.  A long journey, partially written about here.   

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