Zahira Kelly – Pinup Artist
Pin-Up: Kelly Doll- Leonora
Pin-Up: Kelly Doll- Sharyifa
Pin-Up: Kelly Doll- Crystal
From Zahira Kelly:
“I am Zahira Kelly, a digital artist and graphic designer.
My work is loosely based on classic American pin up art, along the lines of Al Buell and Gil Elvgren, except it features primarily women of color!
It all began when I decided I wanted a tattoo of a classic pin up but as long and hard as I searched I could not find any that looked anything like me. This led me to create my own!
Classic pin up art became known as iconic Americana in the 1940’s and 1950’s during World War II. During this era the socio-political climate and racial tensions of the United States did not allow for women of color to be featured in the times artwork.
Due to this, there is a void to be filled when it comes to finding women of color featured as the traditional pin up.
My goal is merely to capture the overt femininity and subtle sexuality of what was a largely ignored population in 1940’s and 1950’s style.”
There have been a few beautiful pinups of colour from the early Pinup genre, but not that many. Mostly I seem to find still sof movie sirens of the silent films before censorship, or singers and jazz stars. Not many specifically ‘pinup’ images exist from that time, at least not in popular culture anyway! Nice job!
~ Irish
