A part of discovering your own style and look, in any medium, is by being apprentice to a master in the field. But what do you do when the master isn’t from your country or worse what if the master is dead? Thankfully we have books and with technology we can find almost anything we want via the internet. For me, American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) is that master. Known for his black and white photography, his body of work has served as  a major influence on my style; he remains one of my all time favourite photographers. His over two hundred photographs of Lisa Lyon the first World Women’s Bodybuilding Champion was the inspiration for my photographic project with Lady B. When I saw her, I think I had the same thought as Mapplethorpe; she was the perfect balance of the human form with her masculine musculature and feminine features. 

“The female form tells a story on its own, but a female form emerging from the shadows adds a level of complexity to the story.”

These were the words of my friend David Soutar in a recent conversation about lighting and mood. I ruminated on them as I tried to find the words to match these images. I enjoy playing with lighting and shadows, they add dimension and form to a subject. For others it can hide unfavourable features or make the body seem smaller in size to be more alluring. In my study of Lady B, I knew I wanted to portray her athleticism as well as her femininity. 

After agreeing to the shoot, I decided that I would use the tenebrism style to capture and bring out the tones of her muscles. This style is similar to what most know as chiaroscuro but with much more contrast, an approach ideal for a lighter skin tone person. I wanted to experiment and have it as a low contrast image forcing the viewer to focus on the mid-tones and highlights. My focus was all about showcasing and studying her muscular form not acknowledging what some women find to be an imperfection, but for some Jamaican men this was a sign of fertility; an alluring marking known to most as “tiger stripes”. 

Unlike the girls around me, I never saw stretch marks as a problem or as an imperfection. I saw it as a natural element of physical development as they moved into womanhood. It was part of the allure for me. So, to hear Kendrick Lamar say “Show me somethin’ natural, I wanna feel some stretch marks”, I was reminded of the pervasive nature of beauty standards. The result? So much beauty hidden in the shadows. We constantly ask, who sets the standard of beauty? We have a good idea, but that’s a conversation for another day. The unfortunate reality is that women have always seemed to be held at a higher level of scrutiny when it comes beauty standards in society. Some may feel a bit of discomfort and also be quite judgmental when looking on a nude woman that doesn’t abide by these standards; this says more about the viewer than the model. Traditionally, women’s bodies have generally been portrayed as polished and refined; soft, curvaceous with little to no blemishes. To this day if we look at mainstream movies, music videos and even photo filter software, they are geared to hide our “imperfections”. It makes sense why so many of us have some kind of body dysmorphia, why we tend to hide ourselves in the shadows, like so many women and elements of their bodies; complications and complexities of the human experience.

I believe that we should continue to grow our appreciation for the body positivity movement. It has had a meaningful impact in some ways helping people, especially women and girls to accept their natural bodies, “flaws” and all. It can also move us toward embracing and appreciating more of the “unconventional” like Lady B and Lisa Lyon. So this is my offering, a nod to a master of his craft, my attempt to showcase the beauty of the black female form.