[Pics] Black and Asian Students Unite to Embrace Dark Skin With the #UnfairandLovely Campaign

*Update: The title of this article has been updated to reflect that it is a joint effort between Black and Asian students.*

Melanin-positive social media campaigns like #IWillNotApologizeforBeingDarkSkin and #FlexinMyComplexion have resonated with black women pushing against the status quo of light skin as most beautiful. But outside the black community, the struggle to celebrate and accept darker skin tones is also prevalent. Just this year post about a Thai skin lightening ad that featured a model in blackface and blatantly stated “you need to be white to win.”

Enter three University of Texas Students: Yogarajah sisters, Mirusha and Yanusha, whose parents hail from Sri Lanka, and Pax Jones who is black. Jones photographed the sisters for a photo series focused on colorism and, as the three talked, the #unfairandlovely tag was born.

In an interview with the Global Post, the Yogarajah sisters discussed the project’s inception:

“Pax asked us [to take part] after noticing that even many of the advocates/activists addressing racism in the black community who had a large following had light skin,” Yogarajah said. “We discussed it, and I noticed the same thing in the South Asian community — activists and advocates with a large audience against racism, sexism, fatphobia, etc., usually were lighter skinned. So this photo shoot occurred, and then we created a hashtag.”

Not long after Jones’ photos shoot of the Yogarajah sisters went viral, people began posting their own selfies under the #UnfairandLovely tag.

#unfairandlovely: lankans, bangladeshis, s. indians who never fit hegemonic n.indian + colonized concepts of beauty pic.twitter.com/8KkYf008wL — Than(ushka) (@ty_ushka) March 9, 2016

https://twitter.com/browngurlblues/status/703353977690312705

when people pick on girls w/darker skin but fail to realize our glo provides light for this society #UNFAIRANDLOVELY pic.twitter.com/5U6qgUwu56 — Tee (@sipstina) February 28, 2016

https://twitter.com/DilpreetGill5/status/703601502284152832

https://twitter.com/atiqahfarzana_/status/703405999634317312

#UNFAIRANDLOVELY cause for years of being called burnt I rather be that than uncooked at all 🇱🇰 pic.twitter.com/E8gZqinA3E — Birthday sw33tie (@cherubreeze) February 27, 2016

Some just shared their stories:

and now i understand it as code for “distance yourself from blackness bcuz black is ugly/bad” (two) #UnfairAndLovely #antiblackness — SMASH THE KYRIARCHY (@allthpcesmatter) February 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/metalgearshawty/status/703419946244685826

Jones, later expounded upon the idea behind the #UnfairandLovely project on Twitter.

The creative project that launched #unfairandlovely highlights the intersections of colorism & rejects one dimensional cultural expression. — pax j (@thepaxjones) March 9, 2016

#unfairandlovely is ESPECIALLY for dark folks who r queer, womyn, dif abled, poor, fat, etc bc white beauty standards r over-imposed upon us — pax j (@thepaxjones) March 9, 2016

#unfairandlovely is unapologetic & it’s not here to cater to white or light skinned tears. It’s to help heal years of painful colorism. — pax j (@thepaxjones) March 9, 2016