A Black Actress - the photo series celebrating Black British actresses

“Growing up and looking through the pages of popular women's magazines, I didn't feel a longing to look like the women of the beauty standards shown. Instead, I longed to see myself in those pages, as the deeply hued, vivacious Black girl that I was…”

- Shonay Shote

A Black Actress is the title of a stunning series of portraits by photographer Shonay Shote. These images showcase the compelling beauty and infectious charm of some of Britain’s most promising actresses of West Indian and African heritage. It includes portraits of Susan Wokoma known for her role in Chewing Gum (Channel Four) and the BAFTA Breakout Star of 2018, Jade Anouka. Each image has been shot in a deliberately simple studio setting in order to draw attention to the actresses’ own choice of outfit, therefore incorporating their own curated looks and personalities into their portraits.

A Black Actress has gathered a group of hugely talented women in Britain into one space to highlight the brilliance that Black actresses are bringing to stages and screens across the nation. It is no secret that Black performers are woefully underrepresented and unfairly depicted in and by the UK media, with household names such as Idris Elba and David Oyelowo speaking out on the issue publicly. However, a crucial part of the conversation is often overlooked – Black women are rarely getting a seat at the table.

Tamara Lawrance

This series aims to spark a fresh conversation about Black female performers. By helping us to look closely at the spaces where Blackness and womanhood overlap, A Black Actress offers positive and empowering images of Black women and encourages us to take the issue of misrepresentation more seriously. Shonay hopes that everyone will take enjoyment from her work, however, her ultimate aim is to inspire aspiring, young Black women and girls through offering examples of positive Black role models.

We spoke to Shonay to find out more about her motivations and what she hopes the series will achieve.

“Growing up and looking through the pages of popular women's magazines, I didn't feel a longing to look like the women of the beauty standards shown. Instead, I longed to see myself in those pages, as the deeply hued, vivacious Black girl that I was. This lack of visibility and diversity in mainstream media is something that has influenced and galvanised my work as a photographer.

With the recent focus on Black Lives Matter, we have seen an inevitable scramble for Black-led stories from media outlets. Yet I am wary of the type of stories been told. Stories that still view black people, and in turn Black women as the ‘other’. As something to be examined, judged and ultimately discarded when no longer needed to serve a narrative.

The images in A Black Actress act as a challenge to this and to ultimately create space for us to take a moment, breathe and escape whilst the world feels like it may be falling apart around us.

Black female narrators have a distinct and compelling voice that shapes the work we produce, and as visual artists it can help define how others respond to the subject matter. As another Black female photographer Adrienne Raquel quotes in her interview with Complex magazine, "There's obviously a difference between a male shooting a woman and a woman shooting a woman. Throughout history, photography has been dominated by white males. It's just different. We're Black people, so how we capture the subtleties and view each other is inherently different from other people".

Vanessa Vanderpuye : wearing Mishi May

As a Black woman, I feel I hold a certain sense of responsibility when creating images that depict us. And though I do not see myself as an activist, working as a Black female photographer, it is inescapable.

The project A Black Actress was one that had lingered on my conscious for a while. And at the time in 2018, seeing yet another magazine cover that didn't feature a Black woman, I wanted to create something that would shine the light on Black female beauty. We also rarely see Black British women being celebrated in such a context and often have to look to our American counterparts to see an uplifted version of ourselves. So, I focused on shooting women, who people in the UK would be familiar with and could relate too.

In the past few months, we have seen more Black British actresses grace the covers of mainstream magazines, with Michaela Cole on British GQ and Letitia Wright on ELLE as an example. However, there is still a habit for editors to overlook Black photographers to capture those images. With Naomi Campbell tweeting, in November 2019 "It's my first time in thirty- three and a half years shooting with a Black photographer in mainstream fashion." And more recently, Gabriel Union echoing the same experience about working with a Black female photographer for Women's Health. This only proves that there is a lot more work to be done.

My hope is that this series acts as a catalyst, creating a more aspirational image of black womanhood, allowing black female artists like myself to show our perspectives to a wider audience, and showcasing a figure that is rarely celebrated in mainstream British media.”

Jennifer Saayeng wearing Jeanette Young London

To find out more about A Black Actress check out the website, or head straight over to The Photographer’s Gallery on Instagram where the series is currently being debuted.

In conversation with… A Black Actress, will be going live on YouTube and Instagram at 1pm on 23 October 2020. Click here to join.

Photography and words by Shonay Shote

Hair & makeup by Claire De Graft 

Styling by Lauraine Bailey