This Photo Caused Quite a Stir on Instagram

Photographer Bennie Rose gave the internet mixed feelings with this photo of naked dark-skinned women raising and placing their hands up to a white woman. The 24-year-old shared the photo on Instagram which received thousands of likes and 500 comments. One user wrote; “black art is supposed to uplift not leave you feeling hopeless.. after all we’ve over come this isn’t the image I wanted to see.”

 “Surely as a Black woman I have been stepped on and over by people who look like me don’t look like me both men and women. For me this felt like how many of us live in selflessness so that others may feel their empty as full. So I see those surrounding her not as a negative but as colored compassion that is so natural it’s a naked truth.”- Another wrote

Rose revealed that the idea was not his own after Yahoo Lifestyle asked what was behind the creation. He said; “I thought in total we’re only going to have about three bright-skinned women. But we’re going to have to do something with that.”

He continued, “But what ended up happening is, we ended up with just the one bright-skinned person, everybody else was darker, and then the models had came up with the idea. It was like, ‘Oh, you know what would be a good idea? How about we do this?’ And I was like, ‘Oh s***. Let’s do it.’”

“There is no back story.” He believes the meaning is however people react to it. It forces feelings out of people, and that serves as the art piece. “It’s a truth and a pantheon of perspective of society.”

He also said he knew this would happen.

 “We knew it was going to happen,” he said. “My girl had pulled me to the side, and she’s like, ‘Are you sure you want to take this picture?’ I was like ‘F*** yeah. It’s brilliant. It is a brilliant image!’”