A Nigerian young lady, Damilola Olaleye is creating black princesses for cartoon characters. This she has done to bridge the huge gap that has been created in the mainstream media where the representation of color is very minimal.
“Growing up, I loved watching Disney cartoons a lot. I was captivated by the likes of; Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Rapunzel, Sleeping beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the beast and a whole lot. There was a minimal presence of black princesses except for Princess and the frog which was not even popular. When I eventually saw myself in arts, I knew it was time to bridge that gap. I really wanted to create cartoon characters that will look like me and people of color can have a strong connect with.” She said in an interview.
She continues to say; “There are a lot of creative people out there that do very cool artworks in bringing black characters into the forefront; and I am glad to be part of them. With my works, I am trying to change the narrative of inculcating black arts into the mainstream media.”
Damilola Olaleye whose style of art hinges on infusing Western style of arts; into black arts reiterated that talent is never enough. In getting to the level of creativity she has gotten to require a lot of constituency and hard work. Though there some time she became quite tired, there has never been a point she felt like giving up.
