Painter Part II: Ebony

Wearing: Forever 21 jacket (similar here), Forever 21 asymmetrical dress (similar here), H&M socks, Global Work boots (similar here), Perlini’s Silver necklace (similar here), The Moon Label ring

Photos by Versace

Painting by Keith Teo from the Fine Arts division of Lasalle College of the Arts

Black implies self-control and discipline, independence and a strong will, and gives an impression of authority and power.

Black absorbs negative energy.

The second part of my collaboration with my friend Versace: a shoot focusing on the color black in contrast to the previous one in white, vividly inspired by fine art paintings. Black used to be one of my favorite colors, due to reasons explained by the quote above. It implied strength and power. In Chinese astrology, the element of water is also symbolized by this color. As part of my personality make up lacks water, black is considered a lucky color for me as it symbolizes the element and imbues in me the qualities of water which I lack. However as I grew older and came to terms with myself and my unique personality including all its flaws, I came to stop relying on the color black to instill in me the confidence which I lacked. I now embrace all colors, staying true to whatever makes me happy and fits my mood at any given time. These days, it is mostly white.

Part of this project was shot at a cute little cafe near Lasalle with its Halloween themed deco in all its glory. Thankfully for Halloween around the corner (at the time of our shoot), there was no end to dark paintings to use as a back drop at our disposal. There are so many things I have learned recently as a model, and that is to rid yourself of all self consciousness especially when it comes to public shoots in public locations where you are required to spontaneously drop everything, pretend no one is around, and that you have paid for the location. And then you whip our your camera and shoot like a pro, or in my case, pose like no one’s watching. It certainly makes for fun moments with the public and everyone around.