No Shade, a film by Dr Clare Anyiam-Osigwe
Dr Clare Anyiam-Osigwe’s debut feature film No Shade is centralised around the nuances of colourism. No Shade magnifies the insidious reality of dating for dark skinned women in a society where beauty is reduced to being a “lighty”.
The lead characters are framed in the fragility of their insecurities, which takes us through a series of relatable situations. Some of the conversations are so bad it’s an embarrassment, but it’s nothing we haven’t been told directly or heard of being said to someone else.
Colourism enables our white counterparts to belittle the Black Lives Matter movement and systemic racism. When we as black peoples divide ourselves due to hues melanin or even pattern in a bid to uphold whiteness, we are dis-empowering ourselves and reversing our diverse strengths into a weakness. ~Dr Clare Aniyam-Osigwe
Beyonce recently dropped Brown Skin Girl featuring WizKid, which has had Twitter in a frenzy. We love to hear when people express their appreciation for dark skin, and dark skinned women in particular and we’ll hashtag all the trendables, but it’s still not manifesting into reality. However, we still need to keep the discussion going, with films like No Shade and Beyonce demanding that we love our brown skin, one can only hope the community is in the early stage of a change in perception.
Melanin too dark to throw shade ~Beyonce
