INTRODUCING THE FILM SERIES; BLACK WOMEN ARE SOFT TOO

“Black Women Are Soft Too” is a film series by Onyi Moss which focuses on the softness in black women that is more often than not amiss in the depiction of black women in the media. 

Black women are usually portrayed as being attached to their trauma, and in most instances doesn’t leave room to celebrate their other sides which includes softness. 

“Black Women Are Soft Too” aims to change this narrative by highlighting the softness that exists in black women despite any trauma they may have faced.

This will be an ongoing series showcasing black women across the globe with each episode focusing on one black woman resting in softness.

The first episode featuring Dominique St-Germain is now live.

Dominique describes her work as a “nature-inspired visual diary” where she guides her audience through her lens, telling an intriguing story of her life in Haiti. She is the creator of the hashtag #littlewanderersdiary, which sees users tag their images depicting them basking in the goodness of nature.

Dominique’s instagram page is a beautiful, peaceful space that features flowers, flowers and more flowers. Her online space portrays soft images that allow your eyes to rest and feed on a variety of colours and textures. Her love for vintage classic pieces is visible, as a soft tulle veil is wrapped gently around a straw hat, which floats weightlessly with the wind as she is seen manoeuvring her way around trees. Her hand-drawn and painted artist illustrations are also a ‘sight for sore eyes’, capturing natural tones and captivating facial expressions.

In this episode Dominique answers the below questions;

1. What are some of the everyday things that bring you joy?
If my ears can listen to the flowing water on the dry soil when I water my plants, if I can eat good Haitian food with clouds of spices, if I can draw my favorite kind of fantasy stories, combine my favourite earthy colours and dance to good music in my day, then I will call it a sweet never-ending happiness.

2.  Your work embodies softness amongst other things. Tell us how you’ve come to express it so beautifully?
Expressing emotions has always been a cherished process for me. I identify myself as a very romantic and expressive person, which has its influence on my artistic language when it comes to my work.
My best bet is always the details, the little things that speak for the shy side of my creativity. 
When it comes to expressing softness, my romantic mind and my taste for nostalgic eras are what adds strength to my work. This always helps me succeed in creating the fantasy look I want to confer to my sensitivity and my romanticism.

3. Often we as black women are portrayed as being attached to our struggles and trauma which translates as strength as opposed to the humanity and softness that also exist in us. Why do you think black women aren’t usually portrayed as soft in the media?
As black women, we carry a legacy of fights, struggles and trauma which sometimes gets more and more serious the darker the complexion of our skin is. It’s often seen as a strength, to get up every morning and be a hustler. Absence of tears, nervousness, the will to go forward, while not focusing on the mental damage it causes, or on the gender-related prejudice which always makes people think that strength is another word for resilience. 
Despite being as soft as flan, black women are expected to be strong; Actually, whenever I hear the words “strong women”, I already know we are expected to complete a task that is so hard, so emotionally draining and demanding that we have to be labelled as strong to make it sound feasible.
So much trauma and so many fights are being thrown at us every day in the name of strength. We only have a small amount of time and soft chairs that are left for us to be sensitive, or to even be warm and kind to our dear self.

4. What advice would you give to black women looking to embrace their soft side?
To you queens and goddesses, I would like to remind you that it is okay to feel overwhelmed, by love, by affection, by romanticism. It is a positive thing to say no with a firm voice. It is actually very sweet to bring your touch of fragility, and sensibility to a big project. 

The world constantly needs to be reminded that everything including you, a Black Woman was created out of love, weakness and emotions.

Follow Dominique’s journey of Black woman softness on instagram which promises lofty images of beauty and sartorial splendor.