The new issue of Vanity Fair featuring a powerful image of Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis marks the first time the publication has featured the work of a Black photographer on its cover.
The historic image of Davis, shot by photographer Dario Calmese, shows the 54-year-old in profile, her back facing the camera.
Davis is wearing a blue gown with a deep plunge in the back, hand on hip.
The publication has “had a problem in the past with putting Black women on the covers,” Davis says in an interview for the magazine.
“This image (of Davis) reclaims that narrative, transmuting the white gaze on Black suffering into the Black gaze of grace, elegance and beauty.”In her Vanity Fair interview, Davis discusses the recent racial justice protests, her upcoming role as Michelle Obama, her impoverished upbringing in Rhode Island, and the challenges of being a Black woman in Hollywood, among other topics.