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In a beauty and fashion industry where dark-skinned Black women are still fighting to be treated equally or just get hired at all, photographer Cameron-James Wilson has created Shudu.
Shudu is the "world's first digital supermodel" — aka a Black Instagram model who is entirely fictional.
Unsurprisingly, Twitter has A LOT of hard feelings about Wilson's Black female creation.
"Basically Shudu is my creation, she’s my art piece that I am working on at the moment," London-based photographer Cameron-James Wilson shared with Harper's Bazaar.
"She is not a real model unfortunately, but she represents a lot of the real models of today. There’s a big kind of movement with dark skin models, so she represents them and is inspired by them."
"Obviously some models like Duckie were definitely big inspirations for her as well," Wilson told the magazine.
One look at Shudu's Instagram page and the Duckie Thot comparison becomes clear
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In this photo, both "models" are wearing SAW-C lipstick ($18, Sephora) by Rihanna's makeup brand Fenty Beauty.
The image of Shudu wearing Fenty Beauty is so striking, even the beauty brand reposted the image of her on its Instagram page.
The difference — and the uncomfortable thing about Shudu — is she comes from Wilson's imagination, while Duckie Thot was hired and paid the way MORE Black models should be.
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The difference — and the uncomfortable thing about Shudu — is she comes from Wilson's imagination, while Duckie Thot was hired and paid the way MORE Black models should be.
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Real Black women are fighting every day just to matter to the fashion and beauty industries.
Five days ago, the internet was celebrating the fact that Prada hired its first Black model to walk on a runway since Naomi Campbell in 1997.
Many people praised Prada, but I remain unimpressed. The brand gave one dark-skinned model a chance in 1997, then basically said, "screw them," for 21 years. I'm glad Anok Yai is getting her coins, but that ain't celebratory; it's sad AF.
With the abundance of beautiful Black women, why are we still sliding into "first and second to make it" history slots in 2018?
While real Black women wade through that struggle, Wilson has created a fake Black woman who's now amassed 39.2K followers on Instagram — a follower count that would already be earning her some cute checks if she were an actual human with a bank account.
My personal take on Shudu the CGI goddess: Real or not, there is something about a white man calling a Black woman "his creation" that makes me, a real Black woman, feel pretty queasy.
My personal take on Shudu the CGI goddess: Real or not, there is something about a white man calling a Black woman "his creation" that makes me, a real Black woman, feel pretty queasy.
Shudu belongs to Wilson. This fictional — but very real-seeming — Black woman is "his."
Creation and ownership of a Black woman — real or not — by a white man is undeniably horrifying to me. Seeing her naked and adorned in gold, even in the name of art or inclusion, doesn't make me, a *real* dark-skinned Black woman, feel empowered or inspired.
I feel especially strongly since Wilson himself cited the "movement" of dark-skinned Black women in modeling as part of his inspiration, which makes me think he sees Shudu as his capitalization on a trend. Wilson making Shudu to feed his creativity feels fetish-y, in my personal opinion.
Call it overly sensitive, but as a Black person and woman, that perception is my right to have.
In the end, the entire debacle seems to be about what people should do versus what they have a right to do.
It would have been nice if Wilson had used his talent, resources, and white privilege to hire a real Black model as his muse, pay her, and help her grow a 39.2K+ social following that would further help her career.
He didn't, and that was his choice. The photographer can rightfully create whatever he wants to, and likewise, people have a right to deliver their side-eyes. These feelings aren't "hate" as some have dubbed it on Twitter; it's called critical analysis.
Criticism or praise, it's Wilson who gets the publicity and whatever checks come along with it. Meanwhile, Black models continue fighting on.
You decide if you think that's a fortunate situation or not.