This is black beauty at a whole new level.
Not many photos have been able to capture the beauty of black women, much less black Brazilians. However, photographer Jeferson Lima has decided to challenge that notion, and it looks like he's succeeding.
Lima is a Brazilian photographer based in the city of Salvador, Bahia. To celebrate the beauty of the black women in his city, he has decided to take on a project where he focuses on capturing many portraits of these women.
In fact, according to Afro Punk, most of Lima's life's work tells the authentic stories and the unique culture and beauty of black Brazilian Bahian women.
His colorful portraits are just beautiful.
While many of the photos he has taken show the model Luma Nascimento in them, through his project, he aims to put the spirit of Salvador's black community on the spotlight.
According to Remezcla, Jeferson Lima launched the project via Instagram, with the handle Soteropolitane.se, in January 2015. At the time, Brazil's appreciation of the black community had been at a peak.
Lima previously told AfroPunk:
"The state of Bahia has the largest concentration of blacks out of Africa, and that's so amazing to us."
On the photographer's website, he explains why he came up with the project:
"Its well known that soteropolitanos went through a period of low self-esteem, and it was necessary to create a plan of action for us to go back to that past joy."
In 2015, the number of Brazilians identified as black has multiplied significantly as compared to the numbers 10 years ago, according to Remezcla in November.
El País explains that the rise in the number of black Brazilians had begun being noticed since 2007. However, the birth rate isn't the reason for the rise, but the numbers shifted due to people's "positive attitudes about race, among other reasons," according to sociologists.
In Brazil, people of different ethnicity haven't always been perceived positively.
Jeferson Lima hopes that with his photos, more people will be more at home at Salvador, no matter their clothes, food, stories or appearances.
Jeferson Lima isn't the only photographer who has decided to take photos of some black Brazilians in the city of Salvador de Bahía. There's also 19-year-old João Lima, who has taken beautiful photos of both male and female black Brazilians.
To see Jao Lima's astounding photos, check out his website at https://www.joaolimafotografia.com.
Meanwhile, you can take a look at Jeferson Lima's amazing work in his website here.
You can also take a look at some of them below.