Who is Nyome Nicholas-Williams, why did Instagram censor the Black plus-size model’s pictures?
On August 7, Instagram saw a new trend #IwanttoseeNyome rise, after pictures of the 28-year-old social media influencer and London-based Black plus-size model Nyome Nicholas-Williams were censored, stating the story featuring “nudity or sexual activity” was going against their community guidelines. The images captured by photographer Alexandra Cameron showed Williams seated on a stool with her arms covering her bare upper body.
While Cameron garnered immense appreciation for her brilliant work of art, Instagram deleted Williams’ picture within hours since it was shared and reportedly even warned that her account would be shut down. Soon, her followers started trending #IwanttoseeNyome, demanding Williams’ pictures to be retrieved.
In response to her pictures being taken down, Williams told The Guardian, “Millions of pictures of very naked, skinny white women can be found on Instagram every day. But a fat black woman celebrating her body is banned? It was shocking to me. I feel like I’m being silenced.”
Meanwhile, Cameron said, “I have posted photos of many more women – white women – who had [fewer] clothes on than Nyome that never got reported or deleted. This was the first time it happened to me, and it kept happening because I kept reposting the pictures and they kept getting deleted, and you have to ask why. What is it about a plus-size black woman’s body that is so offensive and so sexualised? The Playboy feed is filled with naked white models and it’s all for the male gaze, which is the opposite of what I do, and they’re allowed to stay.”
While Cameron accused Instagram of its bias towards the Black Lives Matter movement, hundreds and thousands of Instagram users came forward to point at Instagram’s censorship policy, which was being called out for targeting a specific race, especially the people of color.
Williams, who is of Jamaican and Dominican heritage, has always used her platform to express her appreciation for her roots and culture. While art has always been her passion, she used her creativity and talent to spread awareness among her followers. Apart from being a model who has worked with renowned brands such as Adidas, Boots, and Dove, Williams is known for advocating mental health, body positivity and self-care. She has over 37,000 followers on Instagram.
Although the latest censorship on Williams’ images has attracted a lot of attention, she has been vocal about injustice and inequality towards the Black community for a long time. Recently, in an open letter to Harper Bazaar, Williams detailed an incident in which she talked about being taken advantage of for belonging from the Black community. She alleged that a White female illustrator had traced her pictures and included them in her art. Williams also revealed that the artist was making a profit off the merchandise that featured Williams’ pictures.
She noted, “As a white woman, profiting from images of people of colour, she should have been called out a lot sooner. But she managed to hide behind the guise of 'ally' to go undetected in the community, while using the bodies of Black women to make over $16,000 a month, as she bragged about on her TikTok account.”
She has further stated, “Everybody makes mistakes, we’re only human, but it’s how you work to correct these mistakes, how you learn from them, and how you apply the lessons to your life in the future that really makes a difference.”
Over 1,000 posts on Instagram have been shared with the #IwanttoseeNyome, which the majority of them featuring Williams' pictures that were initially censored.