If The Clouds Fell From the Sky

The beauty pageant is in a few months. There were rumors that the pageant would be cancelled due to the sudden insidious virus taking lives all over the world. Still, hopeful pageant queens have been preparing nonetheless in hopes that we can show the world, especially in menacing times, that women can be as beautiful as they can be triumphant. This community pageant will highlight the accomplishments of all who bring beauty to their environments. There will be a talent portion of the Miss Clear Skies pageant, where I hope to reveal another dimension of myself. I hope to have a performance that is both memorable and meaningful. I am an unrevealed superhero, performing only as Amani, simply revealing the glorious melanin The Creator gifted me with, for now. The talent I plan to reveal for the pageant is my ability to bring beauty to my environment instantaneously.

The oddest thing happened to me the other morning in my design studio. I was painting an image of Eve in the Garden of Eden on a Saturday morning while sipping my breakfast tea. Bob Marley’s song Three Little Birds started the soundtrack to my day. The window was open slightly to usher in the breeze of that bright spring morning. I was no more than a few brush strokes into the Tree of Life, when I paused for a moment to envision how harmonious it must have been in Eden before The Fall. The pause became a deep daydream. I was wide awake but so deep into the daydream, that I could see the clear blue skies above me, smell the cleanest air that ever was, and feel the soft, supple soil of a virgin earth beneath my feet. This vision seemed to be as real as the canvas before me. I didn’t want to be free of this glorious vision, but I did want to get back to enjoying my Saturday morning. I truly believe that in that moment, I was able to bring the beauty of the Garden of Eden right into my studio.

So, for the Miss Clear Skies Pageant, I have decided to bring beauty to my environment. I plan to paint a picturesque garden again, this time with the Black Venus in the midst. I saw a sculpture of the Hottentot Venus at a museum last week and it was the first time that I’d heard her story. I thought, ‘How is it that man could objectify a woman’s body created just as beautiful in God’s image as any other, simply because it is different?’ I wondered how the first woman looked. Was Eve’s body voluptuous and strong, able to bear the burden of original sin as well as bear children? How do we know that Eve did not resemble the Black Venus? Who are we to judge one another’s likeness if we are all in the likeness of our Creator God?

I also identified with the Black Venus’s pain of knowing she was different, but not having proper guidance as to what to do with her unique gift. I wondered what thoughts, opinions and talents she had that were never discovered, because the fascination with her physical appearance clouded people’s perception of her. The Black Venus seemed to live in a black cloud, or even possibly be a black cloud. Instead of pouring out showers that resuscitated and revived, she must have held all of those showers in until she eventually drowned, black and expired. I wondered if she knew that she could have overcome to create her own dreams, without succumbing to another’s dream of who she should become. I wondered if she knew that a poor, black woman with a physical anomaly was still worthy of a good life.

The Hottentot Venus, or Black Venus, was a woman of an unremarkable background, in unfortunate circumstances, in a confining atmosphere leadened a dismal gray. Her fate fell into the wrong hands, and before she knew it, she was bare and on exhibit in London, Paris, and eventually the entire world. This was in a time when the slave trade was abolished by the British Empire but slavery endured in various, more subtle forms. Her large, protruding buttocks made the South African woman a main attraction at freak shows in Europe. She was a woman deceived, raped, abused, objectified, experimented on, pimped, and grotesquely exhibited, never having the chance to realize her true purpose. She was like a well-formed cloud, ample, full-figured and filled with the potential to shower her gifts upon the world. But, her image was clouded until she disappeared into the leadened weight of her world.

Women are like clouds in the sky. Some women weigh a bit more than others and we come in different shapes and sizes. Some of our curves are accentuated on different parts of our forms. Some women are light and fluffy and some are mysteriously dark. Some women welcome the sun to shine through them and some lurk in pale corners of the sky, an undetectable figment of space. Still, though we’re all unique, we each carry our fair share of weight. If any one of us falls below, the impact would be disastrous! And if several of us fell below, our cloudburst would be apocalyptic! I can envision the pageant stage on the day of the show. Some contestants will be bold and dynamic, and may be more celebrated than others. Some contestants will be silent warriors, strategic and set on being victorious. As women, its very necessary to uphold one another, not allowing the gravity of jealousy to destroy our worlds.

The pageant will be held at the Celestial Grounds, a spacious community recreational center in East New York. The neighborhood around the rec center isn’t an enviable zip code. The coordinators hope that the pageant will bring a glimmer of hope, purpose and beauty to an otherwise glum area. Aside from wanting to win the title of Miss Clear Skies, I’m very concerned with the impact that the beautiful and talented contestants will have on the community. The last time I was caught up in a vision while painting, I was suddenly surrounded with beauty. I’m now envisioning the community recreational center being transformed into a vibrant cornucopia that overflows with both purpose and beauty, even into the neighborhood without.

As for winning the title, well, I hope for an enriching experience for all. Hoping for another woman’s loss to amplify your win will only result in your loss in the end. For the day your crown falls, that woman may have been the one to remind you that you’re still a queen, and help you get your crown erected again. What were to happen if even one of the ample clouds fell from the sky? The impact would be disastrous! What were to happen if all of the uniquely shaped clouds fell from the sky? The world as we know it would be flooded with beauty gone awry. There is so much more substance to a beautiful, shapely cloud than meets the eye.