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We love Beyonce at GlobalGrind and follow pretty much her every move, so we’re curious as to what’s up with her spread in ‘L’Officiel?’

Last year there was an uproar over Beyonce’s face appearing a bit whiter in order to sell cosmetics for L’Oreal. Back then, L’Oreal and Beyonce denied using photo-shop.

This March, the singer and actress agreed to grace the cover and pages in an ‘African Queen’ theme photo shoot for the French fashion magazine’s celebratory 90th issue. The magazine says that Beyonce was painted darker in an effort to celebrate a return to the singer’s roots. She was dressed in costumes to celebrate African musician and activist Fela Kuti. Interestingly, Bey’s husband Jay-Z is a producer of ‘Fela!,’ a traveling musical about Kuti’s life. ‘Fela!’ is rife with anti-colonial sentiment and pro-Africa politics. We wonder what the James Brown of Nigeria would have thought if he could see Beyonce’s photographs. 

When you consider the images as a whole in L’Officiel, Beyonce, like in the L’Oreal ad, is nearly unrecognizable. Is one’s skin color interchangeable? Is it like a costume? Or a pair of sneakers?

We can’t help but wonder if the parties producing and participating in this shoot are making a deliberate statement in regards to the history and iconography of race and oppression in the US. What do you think?

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Beyonce in an ad for L’Oreal.

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French Vogue.

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Artist Iona Rozeal Brown explores black face in Japan’s ganguro girl culture.

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Artist Iona Rozeal Brown’s ganguro girl painting.

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Dutch model Lara Stone in black face.

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Dutch model Lara Stone.

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Kobe Bryant photographed by Spanish photographer Ruven Afanador. Afanador often darkens the skin of his models.

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A minstrel poster of Billy Van in blackface. The practice of blackface originated in the United States and spread worldwide, setting into effect negative stereotypes about b