The beauty of human skin in every color

It has been 128 years since the last
country in the world abolished slavery.

And 53 years since Martin Luther King
pronounced his "I Have A Dream" speech.

But we still live in a world

where the color of our skin not only
gives a first impression,

but a lasting one that remains.

I was born in a family full of colors.

My father is the son of a maid

from whom he inherited an intense,
dark, chocolate tone.

He was adopted by those who
I know as my grandparents.

The matriarch, my grandma, has
a porcelain skin and a cotton-like hair.

My grandpa was somewhere between
a vanilla and strawberry yogurt tone,

like my uncle and my cousin.

My mother is a cinnamon skin
daughter of a native Brazilian,

with a pinch of hazel and honey.

[....but with a lot of coffee]

She has two sisters.

One in a toasted peanut skin

and the other,

also adopted,

more on the beige side, like a pancake.

(Laughter)

Growing up in this family,

color was never important for me.

Outside home however,
things were different soon.

Color had many other meanings.

I remember my first
drawing lessons in school

as a bunch of contradictory fill-ins.

It was exciting and creative

but I never understood
the unique flesh color [fancied?]

I was made of flesh but I wasn't pink,

my skin was brown and
people said I was black.

I was seven years old
with a mess of colors in my head.

Later,

when I took my cousin to school,

I was usually taken for the nanny.

By helping in the kitchen
at a friend's party,

people thought I was the maid.

I was even treated as a prostitute

just because I was walking alone
on the beach with European friends.

And many times,

visiting my grandma or friends
in upper class buildings,

I was invited not to use the main elevator

because in the end,

with this color and this hair,

I cannot belong to some places.

In some way,

I get to use it and accept part of it,

however something inside of me
keeps revolving and struggling.

Years later I married a Spaniard.

But not an [Espaniard?]

I chose one with the skin
color of a lobster [when...]

Since of then, a new question
started to chase me.

What will be the color of your children?

As you can understand,

this is my last concern.

But thinking about it,

with my previous background,

my story led me to make my personal
exercise as a photographer.

And that is how Humanae was born.

Humanae is a pursuit
to highlight our true colors.

[Redder, the untrue] --

white, red, black or yellow
associated with race.

It's a kind of game to question our codes.

It's a work in progress from a personal
story to a global history.

I portray the subjects
in a white background.

Then I choose 11 pixels
[square] from the nose,

paint the background,

and look for the corresponding color
in the industrial palette Pantone.

I started with my family and friends,

then more and more people
joined the [ ]

thanks to public cause
coming to the social media.

I thought that the main space
to show my work was the Internet

because I want an open concept

that invites everybody

to push the share button in both
the computer and their brain.

The slow ball started to roll.

The project had a great welcome --

invitations, exhibitions,

physical [form ...]

galleries and museums ...

just happened.

And among them,

my favorite.

When Humanae occupies public spaces

and appears in the street,

it fosters a popular debate

and creates a feeling of community.

I have portrayed more than 3,000 people

in 13 different counties, 19 different
cities around the world.

Just to mention some of them --

from someone included in the Forbes List,

to refugees who crossed
the Mediterranean by boat.

In Paris, from the UNESCO
Headquarters to a shelter.

And students both in Switzerland
and favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

All kinds of beliefs,

gender identities

or physical impairments,

a newborn or terminally ill.

We all together build Humanae.

Those portrayed make us rethink
how we see each other.

When modern science is
questioning the race concept,

what does it mean for us to be
black, white, yellow, red?

Is is the eye, the nose,
the mouth, the hair,

or does it have to do with our origin,
nationality or bank account?

This personal exercise turned
out to be a [discovery].

Suddenly I realized that Humane
was useful for many people.

It represents a sort of mirror

for those who cannot find
themselves reflected in any label.

It was amazing

that people started to share
their thoughts about the work with me.

I have hundreds of [that],

I will share with you, too.

I mother of an 11-year-old girl wrote me,

"Very good for me as I continue
to work on her confidence.

As this past weekend,

one of her girlfriend's argued with her
that she does not belong

and should not be allowed
to live in Norway.

So you're work as a very special
place in my heart,

and it's very important for me."

A woman shared her portrait
on Facebook and wrote,

"All my life,

people from across the globe
had difficulties to place me in a group,

a stereotype --

a box.

Perhaps we should stop.

Instead of framing, ask the individual,

'How would you label yourself?'

Then I would say,

'Hi. I'm Marsielle. I'm a Domincan-Dutch,

I grew up in a mixed family

and I'm a bisexual woman.' "

Besides these unexpected,
in-touch reactions,

Humanae finds new life
in a different variety of fields.

Just to show you some examples,

illustrators and art students

using it as a reference for their
sketches and their studies.

It's a collection of faces.

Researchers in the fields of anthropology,
physicists, [animal] science,

use Humanae with different
scientific approaches

related to human ethnicity,

optophysiology,

face recoginition,

or [....]

One of the most important
impacts of the project

is that Humane was chosen
to be to cover of Foreign Affairs,

one of the most relevant,
political publications.

And talking about Foreign Affairs,

I found the perfect
ambassadors for my project:

teachers.

They are the ones that use Humanae
as a tool for educational purposes.

Their passion encourages me
to go back to drawing classes,

but this time as a teacher myself.

My students,

both adults and kids,

paint their self-portrait

trying to discover their own
and unique color.

As a photographer,

I realize that I can be a channel
for others to communicate.

As the individual,

as Angélica,

every time I take a picture,

I feel that I am sitting
in front of a therapist.

All the frustration, fear and loneliness
that I once felt ...

becomes love.

The last country in the world
who abolished slaverly

is the country where I was born.

Brazil.

We still have to work hard
to abolish discrimination.

That remains a common practice world-wide,

and that will not disappear by itself.

Thank you.

(Applause)

Thank you.