This one of my self portraits from my 4 part "Phases of Self" series. The series explores the facets of self expression and tying it into my black identity. Friday's Finest / Greatest Love is an example of how I imagine myself being presented in a way that makes me feel confident and being received well from others. This is broken down into the abstraction of my facial features and hairstyles I want to have, but being surrounded by white spaces I won't be perceived in the way I want to. I'm tying and discussing authenticity of being myself and also being viewed as "exotic" or othered because of the history of stereotyping and typecasting based on black cultural aspects of appearance.