Pinup art, born in the era of madmen, has long had a diversity problem that has either misrepresented or completely ignored Black women. For this reason, premiere pinup artist, Thee JP Smith, has launched Betty D’Minx, a Black-owned line of pinup art products that beautifully reflect Black women. This means that men of color and others can finally cover their walls with women who look like them and with women that they love.
Betty D’Minx designs are created and curated for walls, tables, and bodies through eye-catching wall art and conversation-starting dinnerware with additional product releases slated for early 2022.
The designs represent the unrepresented as people seek reflections of themselves in the things they love. People can decorate their spaces and places in a style they love with beautiful reflections in a genre where Black/BIPOC women are seldom seen.
A decades-long diversity problem finally being resolved
Thee JP Smith says that his goal is to interject inspirational visions of melanated beauty into the vintage iconography of pinup art. 14 years in the making, quietly honing his skills and mastering his craft with the love of ebony beauties as his muse. Ignored. Yet, he persists, launching a pinup brand in collaboration with women for lovers of pinup art. Years of watching artists’ work be exclusively labeled ‘urban’ despite the provided backstories, inspirations, and narratives because the subjects and muses are Black and Brown women.
Those whose features and personas are appropriated, repackaged, and rebranded to set norms and beauty standards. Othering women whose aesthetics are ridiculed, dubbing them undesirable or merely fetishized and exoticized. Have you seen the comments alabaster gatekeepers make on Eartha Kitt’s internet when pinups appear who don’t have the right complexion for adoration? It’s maddening and sad, especially in 2021.
“Through the years and three companies, we’ve built this space to show love and uplift women who feel unseen, unheard, unloved, undesired, and unwanted. We see you, and we know you love Pinup just as much, if not more than we do. Black women are rarely seen as soft, loving, and tender in public. We’re more than strong, sassy, or righteously angry women trudging through life with our families and the world on our shoulders,” says Erika Parker-Smith, Betty D’Minx’s Chief Badass & Creative Director.
Betty D’Minx is the art and home decor brand you never knew you needed but always wanted. It’s for those who wish to see themselves or the women they adore reflected in the Pinup Art they love. Each scene encapsulates tender, solitary moments conveying colorful narratives seldom illustrated with such modern style and grace. The designs are created and curated for walls, tables, and bodies through eye-catching wall art and conversation-starting dinnerware with additional product releases slated for early 2022.
For more information, visit www.BettyDMinx.com
