POPSUGAR: Your documentary is called "Invisible Beauty," but some publications reported that you don't like the word "beauty." Why is that?
Bethann Hardison: I like the word "beauty." It's just that when people say, "What do you think about beauty? Describe beauty to me," that always throws me for a hook. They start bringing race into it, and I get a little confused with that. I'm not very good at answering it.
One writer said, "Well, you named your film 'Invisible Beauty.'" Yes, but there was a reason for that. That was pertinent to the fact of what was going on in the industry.
Another writer asked me, "Did this come off of Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man?'" I said, "I really feel it did." Because the girl was disappearing, and invisible beauty just made sense to me.
PS: In the film, when you spoke about image makers [media professionals], you mentioned them only building from an image that they created. Did you have to unlearn anything about images you had learned growing up? How did you unlearn what you saw around you?
BH: I didn't want to unlearn anything. I was a happy mother. I was a good kid. I listen to people your age saying they didn't have any example of themselves. They didn't see themselves. I didn't need to see myself. My neighborhood was myself. I didn't seem to not feel steady on the ground.
