Swahili Design Cuff by Chisseko

Shouldn’t it go without mention that different people identify as African, and the current categories should be expanded? However, common sense ideas often seem to be the hardest to understand or implement. For instance, with a country like Nigeria, which is an arbitrary amalgamation of hundreds of ethnicities from Fulani to Igbo, facial features and body types vary incredibly. If we step outside of Nigeria, Alex Wek and Liya Kebede are both from East Africa.

They look amazingly different, and yet, by looking at them, people would assume only Alek as the “pure African”. None of these regions are homogenous, and prevailing features run the gamut from the deepest to the fairest of complexions.

Let’s continue to extrapolate that example and apply it to Africans in the diaspora; Colombians to Canadians, Americans to Argentinians and the catch-all African phenotype begins to dissolve. The African look is a multi-dimensional one, and we shouldn’t rely entirely on the media to provide accurate information. We should constantly challenge ourselves to think outside the proverbial box and to question ourselves, because in doing so, we can expand our familiarities, and in turn, challenge the status quo. It is also our responsible, as black people, to stop associating certain African features with poverty and backwardness.

We need to totally rethink Africa and, by extension, our perception of African beauty.

Photo by Randy O

via: National Geographic

More pictures: Lerang & Tilewa Selolwane – 25 October 2008, Gaborone, Botswana

“Imagine the African American bride or the Indian bride or the Chinese bride who may just stumble onto your magazine and website, only to find what you have published simply does not relate to them. Or, that all they have access to when planning their wedding is what you supply to them. It scares me that a couple’s or culture’s visual history will be but a fading memory, while clearly only one dominant culture continues to highlight its celebrations all the time.

Why is it that other cultures get sidelined? What perverse rationale is used to NOT acknowledge that other people exist among us? I ask these questions not to point fingers but to really figure it out. I am sure other people have these thoughts running through their brain too.” – read more at Seshu’s Tiffinbox

From the blog: SugarCraft by Soni

This wedding cake was made for a bride who loves African themes and it was great joy to do that. The wedding shade was orange so I made the roses to match the pots. Made the quills and added feathers and wheat stalk to give the touch. I hope it reflects the theme well.

Citation: Climie and Co Wedding Photographers

I love watching the different designs of the various wedding paraphernalia, the easy looking diy projects, the dress and the food.  I like seeing if things come out modern or exquisite and if the wedding dress fits the body shape of the bride.  The aesthetics and the organization of the whole thing, amazes me.

What I dislike about some of the wedding shows (Bridezilla, Say Yes to the Dress and Whose wedding is it anyway in particular) is the individualistic attitude of the bride and those who cater to the idea that this is the bride’s day and it should be perfect.

On these shows, brides comment that this is their day and that everyone needs to cater to their desires even if they are unfair or impossible. The bride is given a pass to be ignorant, selfish or in a constant state of stress until the day they walk down the aisle. To add to the individual-orientation, mothers, fathers, friends, fiancées, and wedding vendors fuel the ideology that this is the bride’s day and it must be whatever her heart desires.

I understand that shows like this are only showcasing extreme examples and the general public does not portray such narcissistic behaviors. But still I know that in the back of our heads,there are little bridezillas bribing our ego to be set free.

Marriage, as I’ve been told, is a compromise. The build-up to the public ceremony should not ignore the joint commitment the bride and groom made to each other before they started to plan the wedding. Everything from the day of proposal onward should be about the collective- wedding, children, work, fiancées, taking out the trash, etc. Otherwise why get married?

Photo by Sleekviv