The Black Love Project
What does Black Love Mean? Is the way that Black folks choose to love one another always radical and important?
In the 2010’s I had my first encounter with the term ‘Black Love.’ It was in an Instagram hashtag underneath a photo of a gorgeous straight Black couple. Up until that point I had never seen any distinction between love and ‘Black Love.’ Then I saw it everywhere, in advertisements, tv shows from the 90’s, online, and amongst other Black people I spoke to everyday.
I came to kind of understand Black Love as something to aspire to; it promoted Black excellence, it was a beautiful couple with matching afros and no flaws, it was devotion through strife. Black Love was praised, but what was it? Did the community see it the way I did? Or were there nuances I couldn't see?
This ambiguity drove me to collect some primary sources, real people, to look at love unfiltered.
The purpose of the Black Love project is simple: gather a small group of Calgary locals to ask them about Black Love, but more importantly what role love plays in their lives.
What I found is that Black Love is a unique experience and therefore hard to define; it’s more than a hashtag, but a philosophy. Its intangible and nebulous nature speaks to something true: that the way we view ourselves affects who and how we love.