For many Black women, the relationship with their hair is complicated.
It can be a source of joy, frustration, creativity and power. It can even foster community.
Curator Myca Williamson explores all of this and more in her exhibition Crowning Glory: An Ode to Black Hair. It’s currently on view at the South Dallas Cultural Center.
So, this is a multimedia show. Can you tell us a little bit about what we'll see when we visit Crowning Glory?
Yes, so the exhibit features photography, it features poetry, and it also features a film. I collaborated with two of my really good friends, photographer Hakeem Adewumi and videographer Nitashia Johnson.
The photography really is this visual display of our Black hair moments, and our memories and our rituals… just some of those really relatable memories and moments.
And then the poetry really is kind of my protest and my expression of some of my different hair experiences.
…The film is also where I just wanted to bring in voices from my community.
The exhibition has several what we call “texture shots” or close-ups that highlight the subject’s hair texture. What role does texture play in this story?
So, I'm going through, like, my own hair struggle right now. I got some really bad hair color, and so I'm trying to grow my hair out and so it's been frizzy, it's breaking off…
So, the conversation around texture, is there at the forefront without really being talked about. Because as Black women, I feel like we go through many different phases of our hair. And sometimes those phases are on purpose, right? Like, we do a big chop or we color it… But sometimes they aren't on purpose. Like, we had a bad hair experience or we're dealing with some health issues…
Across those different moments in our life, our hair texture might change. And that also requires our relationship… our feelings and the emotions that we have around our hair also change too.
I think that conversation is kind of woven throughout the entire exhibit that we're all experiencing different types and textures of our hair. And that's okay. That's part of the journey.
So, your exhibition not only features your hair story, but those of other women and girls… There’s also an interactive component. Why do you think it was important to collect other women’s hair stories?
There is a part in the project that's called “Dear, Crown.” And “Dear, Crown” is an invitation for you to write a letter to your younger self about really what it means to accept your hair.
I thought that was important because throughout the exhibit over the last couple of weeks…[I’ve seen] the visceral and, like, emotional response to the film and to the photos and to poems. They see themselves in it. They're like, “oh, this is my story too.” I didn't just want them to feel that or have that moment. I wanted them to be able to express that. And the goal is that the project will be a living and breathing body of work.
In putting together Crowning Glory, what did you learn about hair and hair culture?
What I learned about hair, and I guess about our hair, particularly, is that it isn't just hair. Our hair represents so much. For me especially, it represents the resilience of my ancestors. It represents the creativity of my people, as a whole.
I also learned throughout this process -- not even just about hair, but about creative expression and art in general-- is that there are not a lot of art spaces that invite our stories, or that welcome us as a people to experience elevated storytelling. The amount of gratitude that I have gotten -- people just expressing thanks for creating the space for us to go and see ourselves and see our hair in such a beautiful way -- lets me know that there's not enough of that.
What do you want people to learn about Black hair when they come to view Crowning Glory?
For Black women, I want them to feel seen, and celebrated and empowered by this exhibit. And I hope that they take something away from it that they can pass on to another woman to help her see and celebrate herself.
And then on the flip side, I think for folks outside of our community, I really do hope that they become more curious, become more educated… have a new level of respect for our culture.
Of course [this show] was for us, but the other purpose of this was to invite others into the conversation, so that we're not always having to explain ourselves, right? Or we're not always having to educate others. Like you come and do the work and when you do the work it's not always messy or uncomfortable. Like, sometimes it's artistic.
“Crowning Glory: an Ode to Black Hair” is on view at the South Dallas Cultural Center through August 16th.