BLACK ASS MANIFESTO

Words by Liza Jessie Peterson | Image by Akintola Hanif

THE ASS

The Black Woman’s ass commands great power and has historically been adored, scorned, sold, lusted for and objectified. The Black ass, the original African seat of humanity, is ancient and powerful, mystifying even. With my Black African ass up close, I aim to honor and salute its beauty and antiquity. I also aim to provoke thought, as the Black woman’s ass currently dominates newsstands with a plethora of Black booties, perched and poked out, shined up and paraded on magazine covers, hypnotizing passersby and dominating the window display. Erotica and burlesque is nothing new or shocking. However, it’s through hip- hop videos that scantily clad gyrating booty-clapping “vixens”, commonly referred to as “hoes”, were launched into pop culture. This circus parade of super-sized booties conjures forth reflection upon the historical obsession and exploitation of Sarah Baartman, aka Hottentot Venus, circa 1810. With today’s Urban Hottentots, some of the images are digitally enhanced (bigger is regarded as better), and many women are getting cosmetic surgery to increase the size of their buttocks by injecting silicon. It’s the age of plastic surgery it’s possible to achieve a big plastic butt. Amid entertainment media’s pop culture obsession with celebrating the stripper and prostitute as a celebrity, I am inserting my body as a work of art into the conversation, presenting the totality of a fragmented Goddess, whole and sacred again. I offer an image of Black erotic revolutionary beauty; honey on the blade, if you will. An Ancient Goddess Warrior Homegirl Healer Artist Woman. We’ve seen them before. I am not the first. I am not the last. Just a reflection, a reminder.

THE ART

On my left ass cheek is a lotus and peony flower floating on the primordial waters of the ancient African Kemetic Goddess Nun, whose celestial waters are flowing out from my seat of power, my sacred womb. The celestial waters swirl into a spider web because women are magic weavers of life. On my right ass cheek is a lotus and peony flower riding on the same primordial celestial waters of the first mother, the African Mother, swirling into the galaxy because we are cosmic. The top of my seat is crowned by a beautiful orchid flower with vines and ladybugs that cascade down the sides of my ass framing the entire mystical scene.

THE MEDITATION

The history, the power, and the controversy over the Black booty, along with the symbolic tattoo Art on my Beautiful Black Ass, is a meditation, indeed, on self-defined erotic beauty.

Liza Jessie Peterson is an actress, performance artist and playwright. Her new book, “The Peculiar Patriot”, features notes direct from her national prison tour and a prison pin up calendar to encourage and inspire prisoners. Learn about the calendar and more at www.lizajessiepeterson.com.