Cajsa's Choices: Celebrating Fantastic Black Avatar Portraits for Juneteenth

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I wonder if Juneteenth should be a national holiday. If it were, would people completely forget why it matters and spend the day on food, firecrackers, and merchandising? How many people are aware that June Nineteenth marks the de jure, if not de facto, liberation of the slaves in the Confederacy? Seeking whatever tenuous hook on which I can hang a story, I thought this Juneteenth might be a good time to celebrate Black avatars in Second Life. Of course, Juneteenth is an American holiday and I have no idea where these avatars originate. They might even be White in their first lives for all I know. Nonetheless, as New World Notes has noted before, SLife can be as racist as RLife at times, so why not take this opportunity to show appreciation for some of the best of Black Second Life.

“Portrait *1” by ßєηנι is a great photo. I love how the light comes from behind, though we can still see his face. His braids are fabulous. See the glint of light highlighting individual twists in his braids. I like the beard as well.

Interestingly enough, one of the ways African Americans are shut out of some occupations such as law enforcement is the requirement that applicants be clean-shaven. Black men are much more likely to get in-grown hairs from shaving and more likely to get serious scarring. Many choose to grow beards, but then are denied job opportunities, an example of when people do not knowingly set out to discriminate, but because white norms are considered universal norms, they do.

I love “The Lost Chronicles of the Oatsmills: Spring BBQ with Pilar” from ZoeyNova Oatsmill. In particular, I love her natural hair. One of the great things about mesh is avatars can wear natural hair without those awful flexi-alpha glitches that made them look bald in front of a window. Black women and natural hair is another example of where we, by defining white norms as society-wide norms, end up discriminating without necessarily thinking “hmm, how do I write a personnel policy that discriminates.” It can be accidental, but then we recognize our fault when we accidentally step on someone’s toe, so we should do the same when we accidentally create a policy that harms people.

“Blue” by Malaika Paris takes my breath away. First, her avatar looks uncannily like one of my close first life friends, similar hair, face shape, and ebony skin but several years younger. I convinced a couple other friends of mine who are Black to join SL back in 2007, but they were disappointed in the quality and variety of  black skins back then and left the game. It’s true, most skins were shades of bronze, and a deep ebony like this one would be hard to find. I love the way the highlights define this picture so powerfully, the highlights on her hair, her face, and her top. A skin designer told me back then that the reason skinners didn’t make dark black skins is that people didn’t buy them and people didn’t buy them because they didn’t know how to photograph them. That is certainly not Malaika Paris’ problem. She shows how it is done.

This reminds me of yet another example of unconscious bias. From the 40s through the 90s, color film was calibrated to Shirley cards, based on white skin tones. (See above) Even digital cameras search for lightness. When I Google my friend (a local activist and politician) so many of her photos are recognizable, of course, but not right. Her skin has a blue undertone but the photos show a yellow tone and photos never capture the rich, deep ebony of her skin. I wish Malaika could take a picture of her.

Okay, so I chose “Lol look who joined in Yoga with me” by Jaira Saanvi Ira  because she made me laugh. The person who made dogs who do yoga is a genius. I was going to mention how fun this picture is, but since I am on a roll and some folks already have their hair on fire, I might as well tell you that no, your dog is not racist.

I love “Always keep some mystery” from Sonyv SL.  I like the bold diagonal covering a third of the photo. Diagonals are powerful at directing our eyes, so are contrasting light and dark tones and that also gives a powerful effect to this photo. I love his photostream and dithered for an hour beweetn this picture and “When art meets strength”

Wow! “To Higher Places” by NokKirax is all about strength. Sometimes “breaking the rules” by centering a photo, you can express something iconic. Of course, the raised chin and the light shining down on the avatar all add to the beauty of this extraordinary photo.

Many more avatars to come

 

“Something in Her Eyes” is also by NokKirax and I know it’s odd to feature two photos by one person, but really, how could I not. I love this photo’s naturalism including that gorgeous natural hair. I just discovered him while looking through faves of other people….and have already sent him a request to interview for this column. Fingers crossed he says yes!

Finally “A Big Hat” by Mahogany Soulstar Is one of those fabulous fashion editorial shots that made Second Life fashion the focus of blogging, photography and SL marketing. I love the peek-a-book veil that reveals her lips. It’s sexy, bold, and fantastic.

Juneteenth celebrates a specific day in history, the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. It was an interesting action since it freed only those slaves in the Confederacy where the Proclamation had no force of law at the time. In essence, it was a declaration of hope, not of reality. Now more than 150 years later there remain a gulf between the letter of the law and its reality and Juneteenth remains a celebration of hope.

Comments

[Amanda]

Juneteenth specifically was the day in history that the Emancipation Proclamation was brought to Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 with Federal occupation forces. It migrated from Texas across the US when rural black people migrated to urban centers in the North then later migrated to the West Coast.

[irihapeti]

love these images. Thanks :)

[Chic Aeon]

Some superb shots!

[Benji]

Thank you very much Casja !

[Nok Kirax]

Thank you very much Casja.I´m honored :-)

[Landa Crystal]

Loved the article Caj! I had no idea what Juneteenth was and I loved the images. I specially find “Something in Her Eyes” truly a work of art in any life. Thank you for letting us know about these artists!

[Malaise Paris]

Thank you Casja. I am so surrounded and honored.
Malaika

[Pilar Mimulus]

Thanks so much for writing this article for your blog. Zoey and I loved it! We both like to focus on representing what is so under represented around the grid through our avatars. Zoey appreciates that you featured her work along with writing such an outstanding feature on the meaning of Juneteenth.

We also want to commend you for recognizing the "filter" that so many people of color have to vision themselves through in order to self-express - here in SL or even in mainstream societies. After almost 10 years on the grid, we welcome the changes and remain hopeful for even more.

Bravo to you!!! <3