During the COVID-19 lockdown, I found myself relying on music to pass the time and stop checking up the news. I ended up creating, What do you mean??? which reflects my reactions to the music I was listening to. I've illustrated the lyrics of 'Girls, Girls, Girls' by Jay Z, 'Nasty Girl' by B.I.G., and 'Miss Fat Booty' by Mos Def, where I found interesting how women and race were portrayed in the Hip-Hop.

With that, I created an ambience of confusion and resentment through the character and the lyrics type play. The feelings were also similar to what I was experiencing during lockdown with the amount of information I was receiving and its misunderstanding.

I found it particularly interesting how Jay Z on Girls, Girls, Girls decides to pretty much objectify women by stereotyping them according to their race, shape and size. Especially how he chooses to describe his "African chick" in a tribal manner by calling her "Miss Fufu" and describing her wear as "primitive." The comparison he makes to the film 'Coming to America' by referencing "Eddy Murphy on her skull (…)" also highlights the dynamic on how media chooses to portray lighter skin vs darker skin women. Favouring the lighter skin complexion by portraying her as "soft," "exotic," and "well mannered" versus the darker skin complexion as "untameable," "problematic," and "undesirable."

A narrative that still exists in our day and age. Being extremely detrimental for the generation growing up listening, observing these twisted narratives media insists to portray.

Submitted by Inês Barbosa da Costa.

My name is Inês Costa, aka "Inesh, Aines, Enesh" (I guess my name is really hard to pronounce in English). I'm a graphic designer and illustrator. Born and raised in Lisbon, but originally from Guiné Bissau. Five years ago, I've decided to move to London to pursue my studies at Central Saint Martins (Graphic Communication Design), where I've developed an array of skills from creative direction, illustration, coding to graphic design. I like to describe my work as a simplification of complex surroundings. I believe that a design solution should emerge from its content: the meaning behind the design is as relevant as its aesthetics, which directly connects to my own self. Being a woman of colour in my field is definitely a challenging experience. It's not every day that I come to a room and see people who look like me or simply understand my work. But in those challenging moments and repetitive explanations, I often find a new opportunity to re-educate and re-introduce some of the values and experiences that others may not understand. That way, I'm not only educating someone else. I'm re-affirming myself. I've developed various freelance commissions for narrative projects at University of the Arts London and assisted at various events at Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, and October Gallery.

What Do You Mean???