SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

This project explores the history of Black hairstyles in the US and the negative impact European beauty standards has had on Black women’s perception of their natural hair. In traditional African societies, hair was used to signify various aspects of one’s identity, such as social status, age, and tribe. However, since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, Black women have been systemically and institutionally discriminated against for their hair in white hegemonic societies. Using Gramsci’s notion of cultural hegemony, this paper will analyze the ways in which Black hair has been portrayed in different media texts in the United States and the impact of representation by Black/non-Black actors. Incorporating into the text a photo project in which I will photograph myself wearing Black hairstyles, I will adopt Merelman’s theory of Black cultural projection and bell hooks’[sic] proposed self-love as revolutionary intervention to inform both my critical and photographic project that serves as a counterprotest to the white hegemonic ideas of beauty as it relates to hair.