Skindeep

The challenge

Clinical evidence shows that exposure and re-exposure to racist acts ranging from discrimination to harassment can experience (di)stress similar in effect to PTSD.

Our challenge was to establish the reality of race-based trauma to those who need to see it most.

The insight

Race-based trauma continues to be under-recognized in the mental health community, as sufferers do not directly discuss experiences of racism with healthcare professionals, and those professionals are often not trained—nor do they seek to be trained—to grasp the significance of racial distress.

The solution

Based on a true experience, I wrote SKINDEEP—an animated short film that brings race-based trauma to the surface. It was developed with consultation from experts in race-based trauma like Dr. Robert Carter Ph.D. Psychologist and Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University, and in partnership with EMPOWHER NY and Ingrid Silva.

To further reinforce the “watery atmosphere” of the film, inspired by the tears of victims of race-based trauma, we’ve developed a new technique by capturing the reflection of each frame through the movement of the water in a small aquarium.

All characters were created and developed by black female illustrators, who shared their experiences and talent to bring the characters to life. Then each frame was made in watercolor, resulting in more than 1600 manual paintings. Thousands of newspaper articles about racial discrimination, from the 1920s to today, were the canvases for this animation.

Even 100 years of news stories barely began to uncover the devastating consequences of racial hostility.

WINNER OF THE 2021 CANNES LIONS - GOLD