50 Shades of Beauty: An AP Photography Concentration

For my AP concentration, I wanted to combine all of the subjects that I either enjoy shooting, or the thematic elements I like to include in projects, and my "50 Shades of Beauty" idea was the only that both reflected who I am as a person, thinker, and author, but also embodied all of the elements of photography and art that I hoped to include in my project. I hope to include societal themes, portraiture, studio and out of studio work, that has ethereal and colorful themes laced in it. While hoping to stray away form cliche ideas that hope to "represent diversity", I want to create a body of work for women that represents each and every one of them, no matter their size, race, features, etc. To try and make this project different, I am going to divide this project into "phases": black, white, asian, latinx. When being asked my random adults about my college choices, the question "Why aren't you applying to any HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities)?" surfaced in almost every conversation. My response remained the same "I want to be in a diverse environment." That response got me thinking, what do I define diversity as? The widely-accepted notion of diversity is defined by one's skin color. But what about diversity in thought, mind, personality, style, facial features, hair types, etc. There is diversity within race; not all white people are alike, not all black people are alike, not all Asian people are alike, not all Latinx people are alike. You don't have to be confined to someone's specific view of what beauty in your race should look like. For example, when I look in magazines, and I see people of color, its most likely a light skinned, or mixed, woman with long straight hair, with Eurocentric features, and a long skinny body. Where is the representation in that? Where are the women of darker skin tones. larger bodies, or women of other ethnicities? This project aims to represent those women who don't see themselves in these publications, and also to prove that diversity is not just defined by race, but by other physical and mental qualities as well. (Update: I am still trying to find an edge to add to my project to make it less cliche, and more unique).