An impressive set of conversations that question the idea of a feminine ideal from a black, queer perspective. Ope Lori's thinking and writing dazzles, as she analyses “the set-up” of visual messages that dominate our culture and inform our sense of self. In the process, Lori smashes norm-making constructions that limit black female-hood and offers new possibilities in its place.

Dame Sonia Boyce, Professor of Black Art and Design, University of the Arts London, UK

Teasing apart the complex, uneven, but often devastating entanglements locked inside the terms race, class, sexual choice, sexual identity and gender, Ope Lori exposes the internal hierarchies in contemporary media imagery, and how contemporary women artists resist, disrupt and disturb systems of power. Long overdue, this is a book that we have all needed.

Griselda Pollock, Professor Emerita of Social and Critical Histories of Art, University of Leeds, UK

A provocative, yet compassionate and hopeful analysis of the ways we can dismantle the generations of harm woven into definitions of gender, beauty, and power. Ope Lori is a brilliant theorist and a passionate observer of how the world around us unfolds in its multitude of visual expressions.

Marita Golden, author of The New Black Woman (2023), and How to Become a Black Writer (2025)