“Dark Skin Girls” is a transformative artistic initiative by Swiss/Eritrean visual artists Selam Tesfu Michael and West African soul artist Mide Johnson. This project is a heartfelt tribute to the beauty and resilience of dark-skinned women, using vibrant visual storytelling to challenge colorism and reshape stereotypes in media. It serves as a love letter to our community, celebrating pride and representation.
Beyond its artistic ambition, the initiative fosters a spirit of collectivity among minority communities in Geneva and beyond. By uniting our voices, we elevate our stories and celebrate the richness of our heritage.
We approach Dark Skin Girls with a tone that is both celebratory and political. At its heart, this project is a love letter to the women we come from, a tribute to the strength, beauty, and complexity of dark-skinned women. It carries a sense of joy, pride, and reverence.
At the same time, it is an act of reclamation. Through this work, we seek to shift the gaze, from objectification to presence, from silence to authorship. The tone is empowering, centered in resilience and self-definition.
It is also deeply reflective. The project holds space for grief, for memory, and for all that history has erased or distorted. It invites audiences into an intimate meditation on identity, heritage, and the emotional weight of representation.
Community is central. This work is rooted in a collective spirit, a gesture of unity among marginalized communities, especially within the Black diaspora in Switzerland and beyond. It is a call to gather, to reflect, and to hold each other.
Our visual language combines poetic realism, ritual, and symbolism. We work through images, gestures, and textures to create emotionally resonant spaces that are both grounded and dreamlike.
Historical references play a fundamental role in our work. We engage with visual archives and inherited narratives that have shaped how Black women have been seen and have come to see themselves. From colonial photography and ethnographic portraits to popular media and aesthetics shaped by whiteness, these histories are not just background ; they are structure. They inform how we frame the body, the gaze, and the camera itself.
We look forward to collaboration and sponsorships ! Thank you.
