Melanin Magic

this is every photographer's dream come true. the most happiest moment of my photography journey till date, Being published on vogue italia.

I cannot thank the team enough for agreeing to do this concept. I had this in mind for the longest time and it finally manifested into reality.

Thankfully I have had the pleasure of mainly working with wonderful people. This particular concept grew from the frustration of working with a rare few " Makeup artists " and seeing their repugnant reactions

Here is the melanin queen herself in all her glory!

The bombshell drops " the model is not fair enough, please lighten her skin tone " I call this the instagram medical condition where people will cover up their god given beauty with toothpaste on photoshop if need be, as long as they look lighter skinned. I or any normal person believe that being dark/black is one of the many shades and seasons of beauty and being asked to do that was destroying and denigrating the inherent beauty of the person. I realised though this was the first and last time I work with people like that. I never uploaded that shot and deleted it from my laptop. In nature, when we see flowers, seashells, clouds, we do not judge by color, shape, but see the intrinsic beauty in all and yet when it comes to humans only the " hollywood " or " bollywood " westernised version of colonised beauty is " beautiful ". As a photographer I have always seen the beauty in all shapes, sizes, colors, facial features of humans. I just wish more darker skinned people of all races and nationalities knew neuromelanin (more in darker people) found in the substantia nigra portion of the brain actually helps neurons fire faster and prevents cell death, this is one reason why black athletes dominate so many sports and also why most of civilisation/spirituality/religion/life changing ancient discoveries like the wheel, clothing, numeral system came from darker skinned regions ancient India, Babylon, Egypt, Sumeria, Africa.

May the beauty within every human lead the way to a future where the merits of a humans soul are cherished more than their looks or skin colour.

Veena narayan Published: 24/07/2023