My project is a slide show in which I compare Carrie Mae Weems’ photograph “Mirror, Mirror” from her photographic project Ain’t Joking’ series from 1987-1988 with the Walt Disney (& the Brothers Grimm) 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. These forms of artwork question whether the “fairest” actually means the most beautiful or the most white. Through their details galore, they reveal to the audience that society has decided that black women have no beauty simply because they are not pale or have skin “white as snow.” Viewers of my project should take away that skin “white as snow” should not be the highest form of beauty; being light-skinned should not define beauty. All women are beautiful & should not feel or think that it is expected to look like Snow White or have pale skin. Viewers will learn/see the wrong in racist beauty ideals & that they are unrealistic (there should not be an ideal beauty).
– Karen Torres Segovia