Last week Publisher's Weekly ran this cover promote African-American books. The image incited criticism and chargers of insensitivity. But is this really? What's the problem? It looks like art to me.
Predictably, PW issued an apology and their reasoning for using the photograph.
The image was a photograph taken from a new book from W.W. Norton, Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present by Deborah Willis, a collection of carefully chosen photographs intended to highlight the physical and cultural beauty of African-American life. The image (Pickin', 1999) by Lauren Kelley is a photograph of a black woman whose hair is full of Afro picks, the ubiquitous metal toothed hair-comb of the 1970s, complete with plastic handle in the form of a black power fist. The afro picks are arrayed in the woman’s hair to create a kind of giant sculptural Afro hair-do and the woman is leaning slightly forward to give the viewer a better look at the quirky artificially created hair-pick crown. The coverline for the image is: Afro Picks! New Books and Trends in African-American Publishing and it refers to the feature story “African-American Books in Today’s Marketplace,” a look at the current marketplace for black books written by Felicia Pride.
I appreciate voices speaking out when travesties are valid. There are many legitimate issues raised, especially pertaining to how people of color are depicted in media. But what's really wrong with this image?
I fear far too many are just overly sensitive and too eager to pounce on mainstream outlets, while allowing African-American publications and media sites to thrive in their ignorance. I'm standing by my taste, I think the picture is beautiful. The critics are just picky.
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