Restaging classic films with black models

January 30, 2014 2:05 PM

In 2013, the Onomo International hotel group asked photographers Omar Victor Diop and Antoine Tempé (nsfw) to create a series of photographs set in the group’s hotels as part of an advertising campaign. Fans of Hollywood, the pair created ONOMOllywood, an exhibition images from iconic films featuring African models in previously white roles.

8 of the 20 images are available online. Some highlights:

• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• The Matrix
• Psycho

As an exercise in not reading the comments, check out this interview with Diop in The Guardian which references the comments garnered by another showcase of Diop's work on CNN.

posted by sparklemotion (13 comments total)

The images are great!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:09 PM on January 30, 2014

Very cool. I love love love the Frida one.
posted by Kitteh at 2:18 PM on January 30, 2014

The American Beauty one is stunning.
posted by fuse theorem at 2:19 PM on January 30, 2014

It reminds me of Gauguin in an unsettling way.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:33 PM on January 30, 2014

OK, intellectually I know that the hotel chain is a partner in the art project, and that the photos aren't advertisements for the hotels, but I was kind of surprised on a gut level that they chose Psycho as a subject of one of the photos. I guess that level of provocativeness makes it interesting as a piece of art.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:18 PM on January 30, 2014

I don't like the Psycho one because the substitute for Jack Nicholson looks like a racist caricature.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:30 PM on January 30, 2014

Jack Nicholson?
posted by yoink at 5:37 PM on January 30, 2014

Although that did make me realize (via thinking about "redrum" and anagrams etc.) that you can't spell "Bates" without "stab."
posted by yoink at 5:40 PM on January 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was reading the Guardian article very late last night, and kept reading the art project's name as ON NOM Hollywood.

The pictures are really good, I wish there were more of them.
posted by Alnedra at 6:09 PM on January 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

In his role as Anthony Perkins.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:15 PM on January 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Just watched Breakfast At Tiffany's for the first time, so this one struck a chord for me. Brilliant!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:27 PM on January 30, 2014

Love this.
posted by desuetude at 10:02 PM on January 30, 2014

C'mon Thelma & Louise.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:26 AM on January 31, 2014