It is not often in media that we see positive representations of black female friendship. Too often the portrayals are centered around competition and deceit. This is why some women are pushing back against main media. Photographer Miranda Barnes project titled “Doubles”, she photographs black twin sisters.
She describes her collection as:
I find the need to challenge misconceptions of people of color in America, and particularly like to highlight themes of friendship and sisterhood in black communities…I hope my series Doubles can be a reflection of black love, unity, but most importantly black womanhood.
I encourage you to look through her collection of photographs as they are filled with sisterly love and care.
Her project brings up an important question: Why do we often show black women as adversaries rather than sisters?
An easy answer would be to say that media jumps on what viewers like to see…drama. But that is not entirely true because if you look at sitcoms and tv shows with majority white casts you see shows that center on friendship. We hope this changes and we hope that black women continue to celebrate their sisterhood despite mainstream media. Help your daughters see that black girls can love one another and that this support can carry them through the roughest of times.
