Viola Davis Graces the July/August cover Vanity Fair, and it is the most powerful image we've seen in a very long time. 

In the magazine's 107 year history, this is the first time they've had a Black photographer shoot a cover. Dario Calmese, a Black artist, based In New York City, captured Viola in her glory. He joins Tyler Mitchell, who, in 2018, became the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of Vogue.

There was an image that had long lingered in Dario's reference folder: "The Scourged Back," an 1863 portrait of an enslaved man whose back is ravaged by whipping scars. When Dario came across it again a few days before the shoot, he decided to replicate it.

Viola doesn't have scars on her back as the man in the image, but instead, Dario wanted to recreate it because it embodies our people's strength and power.

"For me, this cover is my protest, but not a protest in 'Look at how bad you've been to me, and I'm angry, and I'm upset.'" Rather, it's: "I'm going to rewrite this narrative. I'm just going to take ownership of it," he said in an interview with the New York Times.

For the coveted cover, Viola wore a taffeta MaxMara trench dress backward so it could be unbuttoned to reveal her back. She wore her hair naturally in an afro and minimal make-up at the request of the photographer. She is beautiful and genuinely looks graceful in these photos.

We're glad that Vanity Fair enlisted Dario for the cover after Vogue chooses to hire Annie Leibovitz to photograph Simone Biles had undergone criticism.

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