A current photography show in Lamarche Gallery in Smith Union is the outcome of a discussion among women of color at Bowdoin, who gathered recently to speak about what it means, and how it feels, to be in their skin on this campus. Part of the conversation included a photo shoot.

The exhibit’s curator, Raquel Santizo ’19, said in the gallery statement that the discussion and photo shoot grew out of a paper she wrote for a Feminist Theory class. While interviewing students to do research for the paper, Santizo heard “recurring themes about women of color feeling invisible due to not meeting Eurocentric standards of beauty, and feeling fear of fetishization or exoticization.”

With the help of Rebkah Tesfamariam ’18 and Anu Asaolu ’19, Santizo organized the photo shoot through the Women’s Resource Center to encourage women of color to share their experiences.

Some of the questions asked at the discussion were, “when was the first time you found beauty in yourself?” And, “if you could tell a daughter or sister one thing to hold onto to feel beautiful, what would that be?”

Photos in slideshow by Eliza Graumlich ’17