Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Celebrity

Herrana Addisu’s “River” Touches On Ethiopian Beauty Standards – Essence

rmtsa by rmtsa
September 20, 2024
in Celebrity
0
Herrana Addisu’s “River” Touches On Ethiopian Beauty Standards – Essence
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Zion Williamson Hit With Sexual Assault Lawsuit By Ex-Girlfriend

Melky Jean Honors Haitian Roots With Saint Sauveur 1972 Rum

Tray Chaney’s Son Injured In GA Tornado

Courtesy of Kendall Bessent

What does visibility look like? Growing up in Ethiopia, SheaMoisture Grant-winning filmmaker and artist Herrana Addisu’s life’s work has been devoted to shedding light on women in conflict and beauty standards in her home country. This is also the case in her recent film River, supported by Tina Knowles. “[River is] a story I’ve been writing in my head my whole life because it’s the existence and livelihood of my childhood,” Addisu tells ESSENCE.

After winning the Blueprint Grant last August, SheaMoisture sponsored her creative agency Chucha Studios to produce the film, actualizing a narrative the Black community can relate to. Honing in on culturally-sensitive and political themes—from water and education access to ancestral lessons, forced marriage, and beauty standards—Adisu took the funds back to Ethiopia (to collaborate with the local production house Qene Films) to tell her story.

“I wanted the film to have complicated conversations that we don’t always have in this day and age,” she says. For example, Ethiopian stick and poke body tattooing (called “Niksat”) is a common tradition strung through each of her pieces. “Growing up, I always thought it was so beautiful,” she says. “But, there is this sense of resentment towards it because a lot of women didn’t feel like they consented to having a permanent tattoo.” 

Tapping into cultural and traditional views of beauty, she recalls the spiritual icons of Black hair in Church as a leading theme as well. “Our old Bibles and imagery I grew up seeing are Black angels and they have mini Afros,” Addisu says, which she included on the actors next to braids, scarves, and blow outs. “My visibility of Blackness was so apparent to me that I wanted to also showcase that in the film.”

As an artist, however, she also embodies the beauty she captures. After shooting the film in Ethiopia, Adisu returned to New York to be shot in a photo series adjacent to River. “[Photographer] Kendall Bessent had this idea to test my limits of doing this cone on my head,” she says. “It’s very easy to push those boundaries to a certain extent when you’re behind the lens and then to be in front of it.”

In one photo, she props her chin on a jewelry stand with a bouffant hairdo, while in another she’s in spit curls on a river landscape, which is in reference to the life source of the film. “Water streams in the global south, especially in Utopia rivers, are very essential not only in rural communities but urban communities as well,” she says. 

However, the river is also a source of vulnerability for women, subject to violence, kidnapping, and trafficking when they fetch water. “I felt like that was such a strong catalyst to tie in the whole aspect of the film.” 

CREDITS:

Model: Herrana Addisu

Stylist: Willyum Beck

Hair: Niko Weddle

Makeup Artist: Marta Mariotti

Assist: Andre Williams



Source link

Tags: AddisusBeautyEssenceEthiopianHerranaRiverStandardsTouches
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Zion Williamson Hit With Sexual Assault Lawsuit By Ex-Girlfriend

by rmtsa
May 31, 2025
0
Zion Williamson Hit With Sexual Assault Lawsuit By Ex-Girlfriend

Pelicans basketball player, Zion Williamson, is facing a serious lawsuit filed by a woman who claims to be his ex-girlfriend. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court,...

Read more

Melky Jean Honors Haitian Roots With Saint Sauveur 1972 Rum

by rmtsa
May 30, 2025
0
Melky Jean Honors Haitian Roots With Saint Sauveur 1972 Rum

Source: Courtesy of Melky Jean Melky Jean is no stranger to the spotlight, but now, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter is stepping into a whole new role: CEO. Known for her...

Read more

Tray Chaney’s Son Injured In GA Tornado

by rmtsa
May 30, 2025
0
Tray Chaney’s Son Injured In GA Tornado

Fans are sending prayers to The Wire actor Tray Chaney, who revealed on Instagram that a tornado struck his Henry County, Georgia home, throwing his son nearly the...

Read more

Tyler, The Creator And Dave Free Redefine Luxury In Bottega Veneta Campaign – Essence

by rmtsa
May 30, 2025
0
Tyler, The Creator And Dave Free Redefine Luxury In Bottega Veneta Campaign – Essence

Getty Images Bottega Veneta’s latest campaign is less about clothing and more about connection. Specifically, the quiet power of craftsmanship as a universal language. Titled “Craft is Our...

Read more

Lizzo Slams Fatphobia After Weight Loss: ‘People Bully Fat People’

by rmtsa
May 29, 2025
0
Lizzo Slams Fatphobia After Weight Loss: ‘People Bully Fat People’

Source: Dia Dipasupil / Getty “I think that people like to bully fat people.” – Lizzo Known for her chart-topping pop anthems, larger-than-life personality, and body positivity, Lizzo...

Read more
Next Post
Brittany Renner Reveals How Her Finances Have ‘Crumbled’

Brittany Renner Reveals How Her Finances Have 'Crumbled'

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Niko McKnight, Son Of Singer Brian McKnight, Reportedly Dies
  • Hlynur Pálmason’s Tender Marital Drama
  • And Just Like That… – Season 3

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In