Aug 6 - Aug 15 * Bad Hair Uprooted exhibit * in Brooklyn, NY

braidlocs mireille liong smBad Hair Uprooted exhibit on Display  at Green Space NYC Civic Art Lab in Brooklyn, NY

Opening & Artist Talk Aug 6 at 7:00 PM  #badhairuprooted

Photo by Keston Duke

4C Natural Hair in an Afro
From Slave Hair to the Fro of the 2000s

That is how my first exhibition was born. I named it:  The Pursuit of Nappiness an expression I had heard in the natural world and really liked. After all I was truly pursuing nappiness.

For a month 40 pieces of the then Going-Natural.com collection where on display in the prestigious gallery, that is not just a beautiful brownstone in the Mount Morris Historical District in Harlem. It is also the venue where Beyonce famously recorded  the video for her number-one single "Bad boy."


It was a great experience. The visitors not just enjoyed the colorful portraits, they valued the natural hairstyles and the fact that I was shining a different light on African hair. Changing the perception of natural hair has been my goal from day one and this exhibition brought it to light.

Long dreadlocks Marlene Barnett
Fashionable Woman with the Dreadlocks

Out of all the pieces there were two portraits that the audience really favored. I know because I asked them.

The Afro of Lurie Daniel Favors was the top favorite one. Anu Prestonia from Khamit Kinks praised the woman who dared to wear her completely non-conform-the-norm natural hair totally unapologetically and beautiful.  That  might be the reason many admired the portrait and choose it as their favorite yet her free fro has been the topic of a few controversial online conversations. See: From Slave Hair to the Fro of the 2000s

Another favorite was theFashionable Woman with the Dreadlocks who was really Malene Barnett, a famous carpet designer who has been featured a few times on TV.

 

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Going Natural