Did we breath too much kerosene and ingest too much butter?
Installation// 4 20x30" Archival Inkjet prints with text // 2018
In many ancient African tribes, such as the Fulani and Asante, the head is believed to house the soul and is adorned with elaborate hairdos as a reflection of status and non-verbal communication. This tradition also persist within the black church, where women wear fabulous hats and hair styles as a way of adornment.
During the transatlantic Slave trade, Africans were forced to shave their heads as a way of assimilating to European culture. Enslaved people's hair was compared to "wool" and during the 1800's bacon grease, butter, and kerosene, were used as a means of conditioning, cleaning, and managing black hair. Hair became one of the many aesthetic preferences that determined slaves' worth. Lighter skinned, straighter haired slaves were sold for higher prices at auctions. During reconstruction, 'good hair' became a requirement to exist in black churches, schools, and business networks.
Through an editorial format, I pose with my weave while exposing my naturally textured hair to explore black female-identified subjectivity through similar linguistic and visual cues used within the beauty industry. I am interested in the complex relationships of black people to hair and hair culture as they are often insights to deeper notions of care, luxury, agency, and self-actualization. Through posing with my own weave, I take back my own image within the commercial world, and challenge Eurocentric notions of "good hair."