August 09, 2021 - September 17, 2021
NOT ANOTHER HAIR SHOW
Ever since the colonial encounter
between Europe and Africa, African aesthetics such as hair and hairstyling
practices and choices have been engulfed in a prolonged tussle where the beauty,
texture, social relevance, and permeability of black hair is endlessly
critiqued and questioned. The head and hairstyles of black women through
various eras have been regarded as a tool of communication as well as a site of
contention.
NOT ANOTHER HAIR SHOW emerges
as an exhibition derived from the dissertation titled: HAIR POLITICS: AN
EXAMINATION OF THE AESTHETICS OF BLACK FEMALE HAIR IN THE WORK OF SELECT
AFRICAN ARTISTS. Written by Tshegofatso Seoka, the dissertation highlights
the politics of black hair and hairstyling practices and choices, interrogating
the dynamics of beauty within various socio-specific communities in Africa and
the diaspora. The dissertation further discusses aspects of the black African
emancipatory discourse, which develops as grand representations of blackness
and black aesthetics, aggressively promoting a reductive narrative of mimicry
where the specific hairstyles of black women are actively critiqued.
The dissertation further
questions hegemony in the representation of blackness where singular modes of
representing blackness are adopted as model. The model hegemonic representation
in this case, is governed by the dichotomy of the natural vs processed and
artificial hair that reveals itself within a competition of the preferred model
image identity and the rejected alternative. The dissertation also attempts to
illuminate black women’s hairstyles as manifest of real-time expressions of theorist
Homi K Bhabha’s notion of third space where capitalism and globalisation aid in
the proliferation of new hybrid identities performed through the preferred
hairstyle.
The exhibition features an array of artworks stemming from multiple disciplines by contemporary South
African artists, inclusive of sculpture, drawings, paintings, pyrography, photography,
and digital illustrations, all reflective of the diverse nature of black
women’s hairstyles. The exhibition aims to reflect the role of black women’s hair
as a medium for creativity, a representation of social, economic, and political
affiliations, source of pride, and an expression of freedom of choice. The
exhibition further acclaims the ingenuity of black hairstyling manifested through
the creation and the continual development of new, fascinating, dynamic techniques,
choices, and practices of black hairstyling.
Achieved through the combination of traditional techniques with modern processes and materials, contemporary black women’s hairstyling techniques and choices emerge in such a way that new genres and unique arts are invented, continuously birthing new forms of representation and discoveries in the black hairstyling realm, evolving with every paradigm shift.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
(click on the artist for more information)
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
SPONSORS
(click on the sponsor to access the website)
SABC MORNING LIVE INTERVIEW
