The Evening Standard recently published an image that looks suspiciously familiar.
In its Monday issue, the London newspaper included a photo of a woman donning a hairstyle that looked a lot like the one Solange rocked on the cover of A Seat at the Table. Both ladies are seen in front of a bare wall with a set of colorful clips perfectly arranged down their wavy ‘dos. Though the similarities are undeniable, there is one major difference: The woman in the Evening Standard is white.
Once the image began circulating around social media, people began expressing their disappointment in the publication. Many were quick to call out the severe lack of originality, while others accused the paper of cultural appropriation. According to Buzzfeed, however, the Evening Standard staff didn’t create the controversial image; it was actually provided by a high-street apparel store called Oasis. Regardless of the source, the photo left a bad taste in peoples' mouths.
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Ironically, cultural appropriation is one of the many issues addressed in ASATT, which has been described as a powerful message about the black experience.
“Overall, I set out to make an album about self-discovery and empowerment and independence,” Solange told Stereogum. “The idea of having to fully understand where you’re from—when I say that, I mean it in a variety of ways, not just your history but some of the family heirlooms and traumas that might have been passed down to you, your overall existence—I set out to create a body of work that reflected that. I had a strong yearning for that. And obviously, a huge part of that is my identity as a black woman.”
