Alfred Conteh USA, b. 1975

Loretta, the woman in this portrait by Alfred Conteh, is nicknamed Miss T. Like her name-twin, Mr. T, she wears a little scowl on her face—a superficial countenance Loretta happened to adopt in the photograph Conteh took of her. The scowl has little to do with how Conteh understands her actual character to be. “She was one of the nicest women I’ve met since I’ve been working on this series,” says Conteh. “I’m a sneaker guy, she loves sneakers. We talked about all types of things.” Conteh included her portrait in this series because he wants to address the misconception people will inevitably have about this momentary facial expression. That misconception points to a beleaguering stereotype foisted constantly upon Black women. “When you’re not smiling, as a Black woman, when you’re not affable, people say, ‘Angry Black woman.’ It’s one of the most problematic and damning phrases in the American lexicon. Those misconceptions can acutely affect people’s lives,” Conteh says. Like in Conteh’s portrait of Daishon, where the symbolism is in the hands, in this portrait of Loretta, the symbolism is in the face.