The Humanae project has been a work in progress since 2000, when Brazilian artist Angelica Dass decided to capture every skin tone from around the world. It is an ambitious endeavor meant to give a new outlook to people on diversity in how we look. Writer Laura Yan from psfk.com describes it as “an opportunity to see the nuances that live beyond our limited perception of race and ethnicity.”

The project itself consists of photos of people from all ages, genders, countries, and races, with their skin tone put in digitally in the background. Dass chooses a very specific way to create these colors, however. Instead of finding the color in an CMYK or RGB color scale, Dass uses Pantone colors. In an interview with featureshoot.com, Dass replies, “Pantone works on a neutral scale, where a color has no more importance than another.”

The Humanae Project has been put into magazines, museums, and has even started to make its way into schools, influencing students, teachers, and promoting art projects. Bob Jones became one of those schools when our very own visual arts teacher, Mrs. Lakso, stumbled upon it. “We  are a diverse school, a diverse community,” explained  Mrs. Lakso. “This project is meant to bring us together, to join arms.”

Mrs. Lakso’s Patriot Path for the Humanae Project is for any student, of any age, race, or gender. It allows you to have fun mixing paint to find your skintone and then drawing a self-portrait on top. Whether it be realistic, cartoon, colored pencil, or pen, or simply a stick figure, all are welcome. The project has already had one run through, and has had positive reviews so far. “It’s a great way to embrace the diversity in which our school has to offer,” said BJHS student, Emma Grider.

The Patriot Path will be done again periodically under Mrs. Lakso. Art pieces will be set up in the library for all to see the many colors here at BJHS. So there’s only one question that remains: what’s your hue?