Apr 1, 20181 min read

Travis Matthews Presents a Portrait Series Expressing: "Black Women Are Beautiful"

Lina

Travis Matthews is a portrait and fashion photographer who was born in Georgetown, Guyana, South America and is now currently based in NYC.

Matthews' portrait series featuring young black women in head wraps and sunglasses is a project he felt compelled to do for a while and is inspired by old-school photos of African women in their African-print clothing and sunglasses.

"I wanted to utilize head wraps in different styles and make it more modern with the turtle necks. It also was African American history month so I wanted to put out something powerful for us!"

The message he wanted to convey through these images is that black women are beautiful in any way you look at them.

"I wanted to show the fierce look in their eyes (like Friday), the joy in their smiles (like Fatima), the effortless beauty (like Lina), the dopeness of their souls (like Akua), the richness to their skin (like Nicosie), the Queen that is instilled in them (like Sesen)!"

Matthews lives by the motto “create to inspire” because he feels it is important to be inspired to create, so positive vibes can be spread throughout the world. And representation is everything to him, since he feels it goes hand in hand with ending stereotypes, "and that's what my work is mainly based off of, showing our women in the opposite way of what they are stereotypically portrayed as. I want my work to represent every thing positive."