India Arie as an Image of African American Beauty

I believe that this album cover of India Aire is a great image of Black/African American popular culture. I feel that she embodies the sultry and beauty can be anything appeal. She talks about and at times show through her music and lifestyle how important being who you are and the fundamentals of true beauty can be to women. I think at times the true beauty of African American women get ignored through mainstream media but the images of natural beauty is something that has always been a part of African American culture. The image to me is symbolic of various things I see in African American culture. The bright colors of her dress represents the various hues of African American skin. The visual of her own brown skin smooth and vibrant also makes me connect to the idea of the beauty in the dark brown tint of some African American skin that can be appreciated. She does not have a perm/relaxer showing how beautiful hair can be in its natural state. The artwork in the left hand corner makes a correlation between art imitating life the way it blends into the scenery of the beach. For African Americans much of the artwork produced dealing with racism and oppression imitates the scenes of everyday life that need to be overcome.

I feel passionate about the choice of this image because viewing just this simple album cover allows other culture the opportunity to see more into African American beauty. It gives other cultures the advantage to see more than your typical hip hop appeal to African American culture because there are many sides to view to the culture. I am not sure if I completed this task correctly but I wanted to make sure that I gave my best and honest imagery and ideas about the topic.