Sally Nguyen

The better lives project has reminded me of the importance of sustainability, diversity, and social responsibility in context of their role in the creative industry. It has made me reflect on my previous work and also revisit my morals and values that I hold and carry throughout my work. This project has made me realise what topics I am passionate about, such as representation of culture, diversity and inclusion in society. Before this, I couldn’t really pin-point which social issues I felt strongly about, so I felt as though my work didn’t have a purpose or a role to push conversation or positive change in the world. Now I know what I want to create in order to add to this social commentary in the world that we live in. 

“If one wants to change society, one needs to understand the logic of how it operates” – Babbie, Earl R. (2011) The Basics of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Crucially, it is important to collaborate together in order to create change in the world. I will aim to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds and upbringings, as I believe that diversity is not only essential in front of the lens, but also behind the lens – the operation. It took Vogue 125 years to finally have a black photographer shoot the cover of Vogue. This is significant, as it matters about who is re-presenting and creating someone in their own eyes. A young black photographer, Tyler Mitchell to represent and capture a black female artist, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. In future projects where I want to portray and represent another culture, I will do my upmost to learn about their history and engage in conversations to broaden my knowledge before I present it to the world. I will ensure that all, or if not, most of my team and collaborators come from the background that I am capturing to ensure accurate representation and authenticity of my project. 

The most important basis of my work now, is to show equal representation of people from a diverse range of backgrounds; including gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, different body sizes and figures, and abilities. I hope to use Fashion imagery to broaden everyone’s point of views and mindsets – to reduce ignorance. I want people to be able to identify themselves to the people in my images and have someone to look up to. To be able to have the confidence to say, “I can do that too”.

I want my work to be the medium that connects people around the world.

Attending the better lives lectures for the first time this year, I found that the lectures that touched upon culture, diversity and race, to be the most intriguing to me. Being a Vietnamese photographer that usually features people as the subject focus of my images, I believe that this is why I found these particular lectures to be engaging. 

In Julia Crow’s lecture about Power, a quote from human right’s activist, Malcom X really stood out to me, “The media is the most powerful entity on Earth”. Western pop culture has been the powerhouse that has spread throughout mass media to the whole world. This results in a projection of one type of look that is Eurocentric, which can cause repercussions on people who don’t meet these European-eques beauty standards. For example, in many South Asian, East Asian, even African and South American countries where deeper skin tones are common, it is seen as “dirty” and undesirable. This has resulted in an emergence of lucrative skin bleaching markets, as fairer skin is seen as more desirable.

            Colourism is common in mass media, with people and media favouring lighter skin people over darker skin people. In addition to this, longer hair that has looser curls over tighter coiled hair. This can be seen in Destiny’s Child, with Beyoncé being fairer than the rest of the group – Kelly and Michelle. While they were active as a group, many people preferred and favoured Beyoncé due to this, despite all of the members being as talented as one another. Even Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé’s father, mentioned that he thinks if Beyoncé had darker skin, it would have affected her success.

            I resonate with these points raised as from a personal point of view, as in East Asian culture, I am constantly reminded by my family that fairer skin is more desirable and beautiful, and to stay away from the sunlight. You are perceived as poor and/or a labourer if you have tanned skin. I noticed that colourism even exists in Korean idol groups such as Girl’s Generation, where one of the member’s Yuri has tanned skin. She received the label “black pearl” because her skin was darker than the rest of her members, which also resulted in her being one of the least popular members of the group. 

            Bringing all these points of issues together to Shahida Bari’s lecture about the importance of diversity, which is to reflect society and the world around us. With fashion being a visual medium that people look towards to create and express individualism and identity, it is important to represent all human diversity. To normalise all of our “differences” and to unite the world through fashion.