The most striking aspect about the Tumblr Blog, The Honey, is that our protagonist is many things to her viewer. Her identity is intricate and should not be relegated to our singular expectations of what black identity should be. Its dreamy photography uses the narrative to unfold the story. As you scroll down the pages bits of information are made clearer to the reader about who the Honey really is. One starts with the blog address, allhailthehoney.tumblr.com. One who is hailed is royalty and our honey is THE QUEEN.
We meet the honey first in her township domicile; a home regardless of its context is not one of necessary wanting. She is surrounded by plush and fabulously kitschy furniture. Wearing a black and white bob cut and small brimmed hat she entices the viewer to wait with her.
Scroll down and the narration gives us a further glimpse into who she really is. She is on the phone telling the one she misses that she is no housewife. She reveals how she misses running the shabeen. She is talking on the phone with her legs crossed in a pencil skirt that hugs her curves, kissing the bed sheets with escaping legs through teasing slit. She also tells us what she wants, “Abuti o onstwhere, o nthswere hamonate”, the touch of her man!
Scroll further down and we are introduced to Gavini. With a backdrop of a bare field surrounded by tiny tin homes and bright yellow lights, these two go spinning through the dust in a red “Gusheshe” BMW. This couple are making plans. In their ride we find them waiting, she too has to be ready with a loaded gun in her hand. This woman does not like to be made waiting and Gavini knows this very well. We are warned who Honey is through Gavini’s eyes that glare at the viewer over dark shades, “Honey ain’t a play thing. Respect The Honey”.
This blog represents the very contradiction that comes with black life. There is a beauty and power but one which finds itself locked in the confines of an anti black world. The very setting of the township was one created by colonial administrator as the place where black life would mean nothing, be worth nothing and have nothing. Yet artists and black cultural connoisseurs have reacted against such political functions and have brought on the re-emergence of township life as the site of black creativity.
It’s in The Honey that black life has a power just in its very existence. It’s a black life of beauty and boldness. She directs the ways in which she wants to be seen. Honey is no one’s bitch but she can be vulnerable to Gavini. She is your ‘ride or die’ Honey, a business partner for when the deals go down. Yet Gavini still brings his comrade a bouquet of flowers.
The Honey reflects the very contradiction of what it means to be black in this world. Honey’s look constantly changes from straight hair, to short cut and even to long braids. She wears the dress and then the pants. She rocks a gun and then a see through purse filled with flowers. She is both strength and vulnerability. She reflects an understanding of what it means to live in a society that does not value your existence but just by existing as Black woman we are the site of strength and beauty.
In one image it is narrated; “even in our conditioning, there was something about black being beautiful and black being dark and lovely” . Honey is this understanding of what it means to challenge power. Our strength as black people will also stem from the site of our most vulnerable parts.
All Hail the Honey, All hail the Queen, All hail our various black selves!
