Race, Beauty and Skin Bleaching

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A Dominican-American artist examines the delicate relationship between beauty and race relations in a new exhibition in Washington Heights, Manhattan. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.

Growing up with dark skin and curly hair in Washington Heights, Dominican-American artist Tony Peralta says he was considered to be ugly by his community and his own family.

"My mom would say things like, 'You know, I don't know where you came out with such bad hair.' She was like, 'Oh, it's from your fathers side.' She would say things like that and, you know, they say it kind of with humor, but as a young child, you know, it starts just kind of like picks at your self-esteem," says Peralta. "And then from, you know, the color issue, like me being the darkest one from my family and never being seen as like the handsome one."

In his deeply personal show, "Complejo," which means "complex" in Spanish, on view at the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Gallery, Peralta pushes conversation about his culture's standard of beauty, which he says is light skin, straight hair and a narrow nose.

"Complejo" was inspired in part by the dramatic transformation of Sammy Sosa, the former Chicago Cubs slugger of Dominican decent, who now has straight hair and a significantly lighter complexion. 

"I don't have anything against Sammy Sosa, but it's just something that needs to be spoken about. It's just like the elephant in the room and people don't talk about race relations like that between each other," says Peralta.

http://bronx.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/arts/144550/upper-manhattan-art-exhibit-takes-on-racialized-beauty-ideals