Documentary Project: Beautiful Beings In Colour

Documentary Project: Beautiful Beings In Colour

Layla Domingo – Founder, Creative Strategist, Director & Producer 2021 – Present

A digital storytelling platform exploring the human experience through a diasporic lens.

A digital storytelling platform exploring the human experience through a diasporic lens.

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Project Type: Digital Storytelling Platform | Documentary Interview Series | Creative Archive

Project Type: Digital Storytelling Platform | Documentary Interview Series | Creative Archive


Project Overview




Project Overview



Beautiful Beings in Colour is a digital storytelling platform exploring identity, belonging, creativity, community, and the realities of navigating the world through a diasporic lens.Through intimate conversations, participants reflect on their lived experiences, creative practices, relationships, and the complexities of being human. The project centres storytelling as a form of archive, visibility, and collective reflection. Rather than searching for definitive answers, Beautiful Beings in Colour creates space for vulnerability, curiosity, and honest dialogue. The series celebrates the emotional, cultural, and creative contributions of Pan-African voices while exploring themes of joy, exclusion, memory, survival, softness, and liberation.

As part of the wider Beautiful Beings in Colour platform, the project functions as both a growing digital archive and a resource for connection across communities and geographies.



Impact 
200,000+ Video views across digital platforms



Impact 
200,000+ Video views across digital platforms



The Question

How might digital storytelling create space for honest conversations about identity, creativity, belonging, and the lived experiences of the African diaspora?

Approach

Through long-form interviews and digital storytelling, I created opportunities for participants to reflect on their lived experiences, creative practices, and relationships to identity and belonging.





The Question

How might digital storytelling create space for honest conversations about identity, creativity, belonging, and the lived experiences of the African diaspora?

The Approach

Through long-form interviews and digital storytelling, I created opportunities for participants to reflect on their lived experiences, creative practices, and relationships to identity and belonging.





Featured Conversations

Selected interview clips highlight participant perspectives: themes of displacement, invention, and togetherness. Each conversation illuminated a thread of the community’s evolving narrative.

Selected interview clips highlight participant perspectives: themes of displacement, invention, and togetherness. Each conversation illuminated a thread of the community’s evolving narrative.

Selected interview clips highlight participant perspectives: themes of displacement, invention, and togetherness. Each conversation illuminated a thread of the community’s evolving narrative.

Reflection

Beautiful Beings in Colour began with a simple question:

What becomes possible when people are given space to speak honestly about their lives?

The project continues to explore how storytelling can function as archive, connection, and community-building across borders. Through each conversation, Beautiful Beings in Colour seeks to remind us of our shared humanity and the power of being brave enough to be seen.

The project strengthened my belief that storytelling can function as both archive and community practice.



My Contributions

Throughout the project I have led all stages of development and production, including:

  • Creative Strategy

  • Project Development

  • Research

  • Interviewing

  • Creative Direction

  • Content Production

  • Community Engagement

  • Digital Platform Development

  • Audience Growth Strategy

Produced in collaboration with cinematographers, photographers, editors, and sound practitioners.


Outcomes

Audience Reach

  • Reached over 200,000 viewers through short-form and long-form content.

  • Built an engaged digital audience interested in storytelling, creativity, and cultural dialogue.

  • Distributed content across multiple digital platforms.

Community Impact

  • Amplified stories and perspectives often excluded from mainstream cultural narratives.

  • Facilitated conversations around identity, race, sexuality, belonging, creativity, and community.

  • Created opportunities for reflection and connection among audiences from diverse backgrounds.

Creative Outputs

  • Produced a documentary-style interview series.

  • Developed a growing digital archive of diasporic stories.

  • Created long-form interviews and short-form social content for wider accessibility.

Skills Demonstrated

Community Engagement • Creative Production • Storytelling • Interviewing • Research • Project Coordination • Digital Communications • Audience Development



My Contributions

Throughout the project I have led all stages of development and production, including:

  • Creative Strategy

  • Project Development

  • Research

  • Interviewing

  • Creative Direction

  • Content Production

  • Community Engagement

  • Digital Platform Development

  • Audience Growth Strategy

Produced in collaboration with cinematographers, photographers, editors, and sound practitioners.


Outcomes

Audience Reach

  • Reached over 200,000 viewers through short-form and long-form content.

  • Built an engaged digital audience interested in storytelling, creativity, and cultural dialogue.

  • Distributed content across multiple digital platforms.

Community Impact

  • Amplified stories and perspectives often excluded from mainstream cultural narratives.

  • Facilitated conversations around identity, race, sexuality, belonging, creativity, and community.

  • Created opportunities for reflection and connection among audiences from diverse backgrounds.

Creative Outputs

  • Produced a documentary-style interview series.

  • Developed a growing digital archive of diasporic stories.

  • Created long-form interviews and short-form social content for wider accessibility.

Skills Demonstrated

Community Engagement • Creative Production • Storytelling • Interviewing • Research • Project Coordination • Digital Communications • Audience Development



Featured Conversations

Kwabena Shange

Artist | Abstract Painter

A conversation exploring creativity, identity, and the emotional complexity present within artistic practice.

Topics: Creativity, Identity, Process, Emotional Expression

▶ Watch Full Interview

Sihle Ndzube

Engineer

An exploration of race, sexuality, belonging, self-acceptance, and the ongoing importance of speaking from lived experience.

Topics: Identity, Race, Gender, Community

▶ Watch Full Interview

Breakfast Boy

Multidisciplinary Creative

A conversation about self-acceptance, joy, mental health, and remaining authentic within creative practice.

Topics: Creativity, Mental Health, Joy, Authenticity

▶ Watch Full Interview


Alma Del Niño

Musician

A discussion on vulnerability, masculinity, artistic practice, and navigating the realities of life as a musician in Johannesburg.

Topics: Music, Vulnerability, Masculinity, Creative Process

▶ Watch Full Interview

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Approach & Process

Research and context: A brief on how the project was researched or conceived.

Development and methodology: Identifies the unique creative, collaborative, or facilitative steps.

Production and facilitation: Details of the production, partnerships, and creative methods.