MULTICULTURAL SELF-PORTRAITS

Companies such as Crayola manufacture paper, pencils, crayons and paint in different colors meant to represent variations in human skin tone.

These art supplies are labeled “multicultural” and marketed to primary classrooms.

In 2015, the names given to the colors, depending on the company, included mahogany, terra cotta, bronze and skin pink.

To visualize how dominant culture uses language and pigment to define differences in skin tone, I painted myself on ten separate panels, using one multicultural paint color in each portrait.  The paintings were mass-produced as air fresheners and paper dolls.